Tom and Jerry: The Harry Potter Days
by MrandMrsTemple
Summary: Tom and Jerry's lives are monotonous until they are bought by the famous boy wizard Harry Potter. When Dumbledore assigns them to protect him as he commences his life at Hogwarts, their lives are turned completely upside down. Reviews wanted.
1. The Magical Menagerie

At number 12, Grimmauld Place, the house was silent, save for the unpleasant squelching sounds made by Kreacher as he mopped the floor. The other sound that kept some silence at bay was the sound of flames crackling. In the living room, a roaring fire was devouring some logs in the fireplace. Ocassionally it was stoked by one of the two creatures sitting on the couch. One was a tall tom cat, his fur white at the tip of his tail and on his belly and paws, but blue everywhere else. His face showed little signs of his age (around fifty in cat years), save for a few wrinkles around his wide, yellow eyes and a few small tufts of white hair in his ears.

The other creature was considerably smaller than the cat. He was a mouse, but not like any other mouse. This was in more than the fact that his fur was orange, once this mouse had lifted objects more than fice times his own weight, and had regularly beaten up the cat he was sitting next to. But those days were long behind him, and now in his elderly years he and the cat sat together quite peacefully.

Twenty six years ago it would have been unthinkable for Tom and Jerry to sit together side by side as friends, but twenty six years ago, something had happened to both of them that had changed their lives and made them into the good friends they were now. Right now they were discussing just that event. A battered looking photo album with moving pictures in it sat between them. Tom stretched out on the couch.

"This is the life, isn't it Jerry?" he said.

"Sure is, Tom. Sure is" said Jerry. He took a bite of the small lump of cheese he had been holding. "You know" he said with his mouth full. "It's kinda hard to believe that things were so different between you and me once upon a time, isn't it?"

"Yeah" said Tom. "I remember what our lives used to be like. Until that day" he added with a conspiratorial wink. Jerry nodded as he swallowed his cheese. He and Tom both remembered vivdily what had happened that day at the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. Nevertheless, Tom turned to the appropriate page in the photo album.

* * *

_Magical Menagerie, Diagon Alley, 26 years ago._

Jerry sat slumped against the wall of the cage he and Tom and been sharing for the past two weeks now. Tom lay curled up as far away from Jerry as he could get. Neither had spoken to the other for hours.

Up till two weeks ago, Tom and Jerry's lives had involved chasing each other up and down the streets of London. Both were equally street smart of the city, but Jerry had always managed to outsmart his way out of being caught. This usually involved some painful accident on Tom's part. However, one had to give the cat points for never giving up his chase. Everyday, day in day out this happened. But then one day Jerry had led Tom right into a pub. As soon as he had entered it he had begun to develop strange feelings. Certainly the people surrounding him with their tall, pointy hats and their long robes had looked rather strange. At one point Jerry had even seen a whole tray of empty glasses glide straight over his head.

He had not been left alone to watch this spectacle for long however before Tom had resumed his chasing. Jerry had dashed through the legs of countless people in his efforts to shake off Tom. However the cat was as nimble as he was determined, and he never once lost sight of Jerry. Presently, they had run into a nearby room of the pub where there was a brick wall. What they had failed to notice at the time however was that this wall had a large hole in it, they did however notice the alley they had run into. But as in the pub, they had had little time to get a good look at their surroundings before someone had snatched them up and bundled them into a cage at the Magical Menagerie, where they had spent an entire fortnight.

Jerry rose to his feet and stormed over to Tom.

"This is all your fault!" he snapped. "If you hadn't been chasing me through that pub, we would never have come to this stupid alleyway, and we would not be sharing a cage right now!" Tom glared at him intensely.

"You think I like it here, mouse? You think I like having to share a cage with you? You are the most annoying thing I know, you constantly steal all my food and try to sleep in my beds. It's no wonder I chase you!"

"Oh that's your excuse" retorted Jerry. "You're just full of those, aren't you?"

"Oh just give it a rest, mouse" said Tom, as he resumed his curled up position. Jerry fumed and kicked him. Tom sat up immediately and lunged for him. But Jerry had been expecting that. He leapt on to Tom's head and scurried long down his back. Tom wriggled and writhed about in a vain attempt to get Jerry off. Soon the cage was tossing to and fro as the two animals battled it out with each other.

Suddenly the bell in the shop rang. A customer had entered. Tom and Jerry immediately stopped their fight. They knew from watching the other animals in the shop that the presence of a customer could very well be their ticket to freedom. They both set about trying to make themselves look presentable. Looking out of their cage they saw an enormous man with a baggy, brown coat and a beard that looked like the black version of Santa Claus'. He was so huge that both Tom and Jerry had to crane their necks to get a good look at him.

Suddenly the man walked away to reveal a small boy standing behind him. The boy was very skinny and had black hair that was so messy that no amount of combing would ever straighten it. He was wearing circular glasses and some jeans and a t-shirt, a far cry from the robes that many of the shop's customers wore. His most noticeable feature however was undoubtedly the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Slowly he approached Tom and Jerry's cage and crouched down in front of it. As they looked into his green, almond shaped eyes, Tom and Jerry could both tell that this was a boy who meant them no harm and never would. If only he would by them.

Eventually he stood up again and spoke to the woman who ran the shop.

"I'll take those two" he said, pointing at Tom and Jerry's cage.

"Oh you're welcome to them" said the woman. "They're always fighting, it frightens the blood ravens."

As the huge man picked up their cage with one hand, Tom and Jerry stood where they were, motionless with glee. Later they would be feeling resentful at having both been bought by the same person, but for now they were so pleased to have been bought at all. Little did they know that their owner was undoubtedly the most famous young wizard of all.

Harry James Potter.


	2. The Hogwarts Express

Tom and Jerry's current situation was even worse than their previous one.

At first they had been pleased to have been bought at last. When they had been taken to their new owner's house however, things had gotten considerably worse. A fat man with a bushy moustache had grabbed their cage and just about everything else their owner had bought in Diagon Alley and shoved it all unceremoniously into the small cupboard under the stairs. It stank in here and it was littered with cobwebs and spiders. Niether Tom nor Jerry had been let out of the cage and the cupboard door had not been opened once in the time they had been here. Not only that, but they were also having to share it with an intimidating looking snowy owl, who ocassionally glanced hungrily in Jerry's direction.

"Well this is just great" said Tom for the umpteenth time. "I finally get bought by someone and his father shoves me into this dump. Even worse I come as a package with you!" He pointed an accusing finger at Jerry.

"Hey, I don't like this either" said Jerry indignantly. "And I actually think I have it worse off than you. It's bad enough having to live in the same place as you, but now I gotta share it with her as well!" He pointed at the snowy owl in the birdcage opposite, who ruffled her feathers peevishly. "And what's more, you haven't washed yourself lately, have you?" Jerry went on, pointing at Tom.

"How am I supposed to wash myself if I can't even see what I'm washing in this pitch blackness?" shouted Tom.

"I might be able to tell you which parts of you need washing" said the snowy owl. "But it would take so long to list them all, I don't think it's really worth the trouble" she added snidely.

"Shut your hole, bird" snapped Tom. "This is between me and the mouse!"

"Well pass me the mouse and it won't have to be" said the owl. "At least it would be quieter in here, and I'd have some extra nourishment as well. I'm getting rather tired of eating only spiders."

"Oh no, you're not stuffing me down your throat any time soon, bird" said Jerry, backing away.

At this point there was the sound of a key turning in the lock. Blinding sunlight flooded the cupboard as the door was opened. As Tom and Jerry's eyes adjusted to it, they saw the boy who had bought them a few days ago at the Magical Menagerie standing in the doorway. He was grinning from ear to ear as he reached in and grabbed the owl's birdcage by its handle.

"Let's go, Hedwig" he said as he pulled the cage out.

"Oh, so now it's called Hedwig" came an impatient voice from outside. "And what will you be calling that cat and mouse you brought home, Sylvester and Tweety?"

"They don't have names yet, Uncle Vernon" said the boy. Tom and Jerry were just about to contradict him when he pulled their cage out of the cupboard. He carried it through the front hall of the house and over the threshold into the front drive. Once there he placed it into the boot of the car and then went back for the rest of his things.

"Well, at least we know that that guy is his uncle" said Jerry. "Just as well too, I wouldn't wanna have a dad like that."

"And at least we're out of the dark" said Tom as the boy reappeared with some books under his arm. Eventually, everything was packed and the Dursleys drove their car out of Privet Drive towards Kings Cross station.

* * *

Neither Tom nor Jerry had ever been to Kings Cross station before, not even on one of their chases. But they both agreed that it was easily the noisiest place they had ever been too. All around them there were the sounds of announcements over the intercom and of trains pulling into the station, mixed with the voices of passengers and the rattling of the trolley that their cage and the owl's were precariously balanced on.

Their owner appeared to be lost. Having been dumped unceremoniously at the entrance of the station by his uncle, he now seemed to be looking for a platform 9 and 3/4. Tom and Jerry knew nothing about the way train platforms were organised but they nonetheless tried their best to look out for this platform. However, so far they had not spotted it.

"It's the same thing every year. Packed with Muggles of course."

Tom and Jerry looked in the direction the voice had come from. A portly, red haired woman was escorting four red haired boys and one red haired girl past their owner. For some reason they got the feeling that she knew exactly where this platform 9 and 3/4 was.

Apparently their owner assumed the same thing. He turned his trolley in the direction the woman and her children had gone. As she came into sight, Tom and Jerry saw that now only three of her sons were standing by her. The tallest of them was nowhere to be seen. The remaining three consisted of two identical twins and one other, smaller boy with freckles and a long nose. The girl was clutching her mother's skirt and sobbing. Eventually the twins ran forward, straight for a brick wall between platforms 9 and 10. Tom and Jerry wondered just what could have compelled them to do such a thing that was sure to cause them considerable injury. Instead, just before they hit the wall, they vanished into thin air.

Meanwhile their owner pushed his trolley up the woman and her daughter.

"Excuse me" he said nervously. "Where can I find...?

"Platform 9 and 3/4" the woman completed his sentence for him. "First time to Hogwarts dear? Well don't worry, it's Ron's first time as well." She pointed at her only remaining son, who smiled at their owner.

"All you need to do" the woman went on, "is to run straight between platforms 9 and 10. Best give it a litte bit of a run if you're nervous."

If Tom and Jerry's owner was at all nervous he certainly didn't show it. They on the other hand did. They both stared dumbfounded at the wall they were about to run into. Their owner broke into a run and the wall started to speed towards them.

"We are going to die" said Jerry bluntly. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable crash.

It never came however. What came instead was a high pitched whistling noise. Jerry opened his eyes and looked up at Tom. The cat was staring in shock at an enormous, scarlet steam engine, billowing steam. The words_ Hogwarts Express _were printed in big, yellow letters on the side. Niether Tom nor Jerry had ever seen anything that looked so out of place in a London train station.

None of the people milling around them seemed to think so however, and soon a porter dressed in a smart looking suit came over to their owner's trolley and lifted their cage off it. In a matter of minutes it had been placed in a luggage compartment over looking the interior of one of the carriages. Below Tom and Jerry, children of all ages were making their way up and down the corridor. Some established their own compartments and leant out of the window to say goodbye to their parents. It wasn't long before Tom and Jerry saw their owner going into one such compartment.

Presently, the train began to move and soon, Kings Cross station was far behind it.

The Hogwarts Express had begun its journey.


	3. Harry and Hogwarts

Jerry reached his arm out as far as it could go out of the cage. He and Tom had decided that they had both had enough of being stuck inside and that if they were going to live with their new owner for the rest of their lives they should at least get to know him better. As it is they didn't even know his name. Right now, Jerry was reaching for his owner's trunk, or rather, the key to the cage that was dangling just outside of it. Right now it was just inches away from him. If only he could reach it.

"Is this gonna take much longer?" asked Tom, lying on his back and staring into space. Jerry turned and gave him a dirty look.

"It might do if you don't get your fat cat ass over here and help me."

"Don't you use that sort of language with me" said Tom patronisingly. "Ass is bad enough, but 'help me'?

"Ok then" said Jerry as he stormed over to Tom. "Then why don't you help yourself to this?" He stamped down on Tom's tail. Tom yowled and pulled his tail out from under Jerry's foot.

"Why you-" And he lunged. Jerry leapt vertically into the air, Tom crashed into the side of the cage, sending it sliding the last few inches. The key slipped neatly between the bars. Jerry coolly leapt down from Tom's head and bit through the string that was around it. A few minutes of turning later and the cage door swung open. Jerry tucked the key under his arm and smiled smugly at Tom, who was raising his head from the cage floor.

"Adios, Tom" said Jerry in a tone that Tom found infuriatingly cocky. He made a grab for Jerry but the mouse leapt off the overhead baggage compartment. As he disappeared from sight there came an unpleasant squelching sound. Tom peeked out of the cage and looked down. Right below him was a trolly loaded with various sweets, pastries and pies. Jerry had apparently landed in one such pie, as was evidenced by the large hole in its crust. There was no sign of the mouse underneath all the yellow, pasty filling. Had Jerry been killed in the fall? Tom was doubtful of it. That mouse seemed to have the luck of the devil.

Just then the doors to one of the compartments opened next to the trolley. The short, dumpy woman who was pushing it peered in.

"Anything off the trolley?" she asked in a kindly voice.

"No thanks" came a voice that Tom had never heard before. "I'm all set. She always forgets I don't like corned beef."

"We'll take the lot" came a voice that Tom recognised as the voice of his owner. Moments later his hand was held out for the woman, filled with coins. She took them before handing them various things off the cart. The last thing she handed them before moving on was the pie that Jerry had landed in. She did not appear to have noticed the hole he had made in it as he landed.

Tom groaned. Not only did the mouse make his life miserable on regular ocassions, but now he was also about to gross his new owner out. Tom's new owner.

'I'd better get down there and get him out' thought Tom as he lowered himself down from the baggage compartment. Peering through the window of the compartment, he could see his owner-the thin, black haired boy with the glasses and scar- sitting with one of the red haired boys Tom had seen at King's Cross, namely the one the mother had reffered to as Ron. Both boys were stuffing their faces with the sweets they had just been given. Tom scanned the confectionaries for the pie that Jerry had fallen into. He saw a weary looking rat knibbling at a yellow jelly bean, but no sign of Jerry.

Suddenly there came a shriek from one of the boys. Looking up Tom saw that his owner was holding the pie that Jerry had fallen into with one hand, and was holding a paste covered Jerry by the tail in the other.

"Oh, I bet that's one of Fred and George's jokes" said Ron. "They're my older brothers. Don't worry, you're not the first one who's been pranked by them."

"I'm terribly sorry" said Tom as he entered the compartment. His owner looked at him with surprise.

"How did you get out of your cage?" he asked. "Did you use magic?"

"Magic?" said Tom incredulously. "Why would I use that. There's no such thing as magic anyways."

"Then...how come I can understand you?" said his owner. Tom looked at him. Come to think of it, why could he and Jerry even understand human language at all? No other animals seemed to able to. As illogical as it sounded, magic seemed to be the only logical explanation.

"So...you're saying that since you can understand me and I can understand you...that makes me and the mouse magical?

"I don't know, does it?"

"It certainly does" came a new voice from behind Tom. He turned to see a newcomer, a girl dressed in dark robes he assumed to be Hogwarts ones. She had long, bushy hair and largish front teeth.

"Animals that can speak and understand human languages are by definition, familiars" continued the girl. "They're not quite the same as ordinary owls or animals like that. They're magical. I read about it in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

"Well, you certainly know your way around magic, missy" said Jerry, speaking up for the first time as he wiped off as much Pumpkin Pasty filling as he could. "So this Hogwarts place we're going, is that some kind of magic place?"

"Is it?" said Ron in disbelief. "I can't believe you don't know about Hogwarts, it's the best wizarding school in Britain. You learn all sorts of magic there."

"We're kind of new to the whole magic thing" said Tom. "We only learnt about it just now."

"Well, I'm sure you'll learn more when we get to Hogwarts" said the girl. "Mind you, I'm not sure if they do classes for familiars so you probably won't after all. Well anyway, I just thought you should know we'll be arriving at Hogwarts in about half an hour, you two should probably change into your robes." She pointed at the boys then made to leave.

"Wait, I didn't catch your name" said Jerry. The girl poked her head around the door of the compartment.

"Hermione Grainger" she said bluntly before leaving.

"Well" said Tom as Hermione made her way down the corridor, "Now we know her name, I think we should tell you ours." He cleared his throat and pointed to himself. "I'm Tom, and the mouse is Jerry."

"That's about all he really knows" said Jerry as he clambered out of the pumpklin pasty. Tom resisted the urge to pummel him, he was trying to put on a good image in front of his new owner.

"Ron Weasley" said Ron. He pointed at the rat sleeping on the table. "And he's Scabbers." Jerry nodded politely in Scabbers' direction then turned to his new owner, who he was now sitting next to.

"And what's your name?"

"Harry" said the boy. "Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter" repeated Tom. "That's a nice name."


	4. Dumbledore talks Destiny

"Yep" said old Tom back in the present day. "That was some ride to Hogwarts"

"Although not as exciting as our trip the year after" commented Jeryy. He pointed at a picture of Mr Weasley's flying car.

"Don't remind me" said Tom. "I still remember how it flew into the Whomping Willow" he winced from the memory.

"Well, at least Harry got out safely, which was the most important thing" said Jerry.

"I don't think he really needed our help that time" said Tom. "If he had though I think things may have been a little different. "We'd never have lived it down if he's been badly hurt. Espescially after what Dumbledore told us."

* * *

In Gryffindor Tower the only sounds were the snorings of the Tower's many inhabitants, including Tom and Jerry. Tom had selected a cushion from one of the sofas and was now curled up on it. Jerry had taken another one for his bed. Both were lying asleep in the middle of Gryffindor Common Room.

Suddenly their peaceful slumber was disturbed by someone whispering their names.

"Mr. Cat, Mr. Mouse" whispered a sharp voice. Tom stirred awake to find the tall witch who called herself Professor McGonagall standing over him and Jerry, dressed in a nightgown and slippers.

"Wha-what?" he slurred sleepily.

"You both need to come with me" said Professor McGonagall. "Professor Dumbledore requests your prescence."

"Professor Dumbledore?" said Jerry as he stirred awake. He and Tom had not been allowed into the Great Hall for the feast (much to Jerry's displeasure), but nonetheless he had managed to sneak a glimpse of the headmaster of Hogwarts, and he had read all about him on Ron's famous wizard's cards. "What does he want to see us for?" Professor McGonagall shrugged.

"He hasn't told me anything, so your guess is as good as mine." She headed for the portrait hole of the Fat Lady, stopping just before she could go through it. "When you're ready."

Still heavy with sleep, Tom and Jerry dragged themselves over to the portrait hole.

"Straighten up" hissed Professor McGonagall in a quiet voice so as not to wake the sleeping students. "You will soon be addressing the headmaster of Hogwarts himself, try to look presentable." Tom and Jerry did as they were told and followed her out of Gryffindor Common Room.

Professor McGonagall lead them down many staircases, which worried Tom and Jerry given that they had seen the staircases move on their way up to Gryffindor Tower. Tom in particular tried his best not be be left behind on a staircase. Soon though they headed off down a corridor on the last floor they came to, at the end of which was an ugly, stone gargoyle. Professor McGonagall stopped just in front of it.

"Sherbet Lemon" she said. Instantly the gargoyle came to life and leapt to one side as the wall behind it began to split in two, revealing a long spiral staircase. Professor McGonagall turned to Tom and Jerry.

"Up you go" she said. "You will find Professor Dumbledore in his office at the top of the staircase. I must go back to bed now." And she headed off back down the corridor without another word. Tom and Jerry meanwhile made their way towards the staircase, Tom kept a close eye on the gargoyle in case it decided to turn nasty. Fortunately the only other thing it did was to leap back across the gap in the wall as Tom and Jerry made their way up the staircase.

True to Professor McGonagall's word, at the top they found themselves in a circular room filled with ornately carved furniture and the portraits of previous headteachers of Hogwarts. Up on a shelf filled with books and scrolls sat the Sorting Hat, which Tom and Jerry had briefly seen as they passed the Great Hall during the sorting ceremony. In the corner a large, crimson bird resembling a long necked eagle sat dozing with its head under its wing.

"Ah, Mr. Potter's pets" came a voice from the far end of the room. Tom and Jerry's attentions were immediately diverted from the bird to the figure standing by what looked to them like a bowl of brightly coloured water. This man looked incredibly old with his snow white, waist length beard and hair. He had a slightly crooked nose on which were perched a pair of half-moon glasses. Behind these glasses a pair of kindly, twinkling eyes looked at them. Dumbledore certainly looked please to see them. Tom felt inclined to do a bow in his presence.

"Professor Dumbledore" he said humbly. Jerry looked at him and made to follow suit, but Dumbledore spoke up first.

"I'm certainly flattered at your humbleness towards me, Thomas. But there is really no need to bow." Jerry stifled a laugh as Tom hurriedly straightened himself up.

"Now, to business" said Dumbledore. He beckoned for Tom and Jerry to come over to him, which they did.

"The reason I have called you here is because of your new owner" said Dumbledore. "But first, tell me, how much do you already know about him?"

"Not much" said Jerry. "I mean, to be honest with you Professor, we only just met him this afternoon, properly that is. All we really know about him is he's in Gryffindor and has a pretty snazzy looking scar on his forehead."

"I see" said Dumbledore. "And did you know that that scar was put there by perhaps the most evil dark wizard to have ever lived?" Jerry put his hand to his mouth in shock.

"Oops, was I supposed to know that?" Dumbledore ignored him and continued speaking.

"The wizard in question was called Lord Voldemort. Ten years ago he led a great and terrible army of dark witches and wizards (and many other terrible creatures besides), against the wizarding world. He was very powerful and so many were killed, innocent and guilty alike. Even today, the very mention of his name is enough to frighten even the bravest of wizards. But it all came to a very abrupt end for him, and it is your owner whom we have to thank for that."

"Harry Potter?" said Tom. "How did he stop this guy? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm sure he has the potential to become a great wizard here at Hogwarts, but I still don't see how he could have stopped him. I mean, he's eleven now, he would only have been a baby in Voldemort's time."

"Ah but you see, Thomas, that is exactly the point" said Dumbledore. "Voldemort wanted to kill the infant Harry Potter and suceeded in killing both of his parents. But he was so blinded by his desire to kill that he did not stop to consider the finer details of their deaths, particularly that of Harry's mother."

"What do you mean?" asked Tom and Jerry in unison.

"In the final moments of her life, Lily Potter begged Voldemort to kill her, instead of Harry. She knew he had no intention of letting either of them live but she sacrificed herself nonetheless out of love. And that sacrifice placed a powerful protective charm around her son. When Voldemort tried to kill Harry, the charm caused his curse to backfire. He was reduced to nothingness and with his defeat his death eaters disbanded and, for lack of a better phrase, the day was saved."

"Well, boo-hoo for him" said Jerry enthusiastically. "Sounds like he won't be off on a killing spree anytime soon."

"Not for the time being" said Dumbledore. "But deep down I always suspected that he would find some way of returning to power, and that is why I have called you both here. Your owner Harry is young and excited to be here, and as you said Thomas, he had the potential to become a great wizard. But this is only his first year and I sense that already there is some kind of plot to bring Lord Voldemort back from the brink of death. I am assinging you to be his protectors during his years here at Hogwarts."

Tom strode up to Dumbledore and bowed. "It would be an honour for me to protect Harry. I'll see off any bad guys who try to get near him. I won't let you down, Dumbledore."

"Your loyalty to the master you only just met today is touching, Thomas" said Dumbledore. "However it will not help you to protect your master alone. You must share the responsibility with Jerry here."

"The mouse?" same Tom in disbelief. Jerry walked up to him with a smug look on his face. Tom looked daggers at him.

"And I'm afraid that sort of attitude towards each other will have to stop" said Dumbledore. "If you are to suceed in being Harry's protectors you must learn to work together, otherwise he probably won't survive. Can I trust you two to one day put your differences aside?"

Tom and Jerry continued to glare at each other for a while. Then they both relented and looked up at Dumbledore.

"Well..we'll try" said Tom.

"Very good" said Dumbledore.

"But how are we supposed to protect him?" asked Jerry. "We don't know any magic."

"Not to worry" said Dumbledore. "I shall teach you defence against the dark arts. And I shall have a wandmaker friend of mine find you some wands. Until then, you may both return to Gryffindor Tower. Goodnight."


	5. Wands

The next morning found Tom and Jerry back in Dumbledore's office, having been summoned by him once again for their wands. In front of them stood Dumbledore and a short, kindly looking man who had introduced himself as Ollivander. Ollivander as it happened was a wandmaker and had his very own shop for them in Diagon Alley, from whence he had come espescially. He placed a briefcase on to the ground in front of him before opening it. Tom and Jerry were shocked by what they saw. On the outside the briefcase looked no bigger than any ordinary one, but when Ollivander opened it, it became obvious that on the inside it was much bigger. A whole myriad of what must have been thousands of wands were placed in their own little slots on either side of the interior of the briefcase, which now stretched out ot about half the length of Dumbledore's office. On one side were some perfectly normal sized wands, on the other were, Jerry noted, several miniscule wands, each one about the size of a toothpick. Jerry knew that each one had been constructed espescially for his potential use. He hoped Mr. Ollivander hadn't gone to too much trouble in making them.

"Right then, let's get started!" said Ollivander, rubbing his hands together enthusiastically. "We'll start with you then, Mr. Mouse. Shall we?" He reached down into the briefcase and picked up one of the tiny wands between his fingers. Tom did his best to stifle a laugh at how ridiculous it looked. Ollivander did not seem to notice as he held it up to the light.

"Two inches, beech, with core of phoenix feather." He handed it to Jerry. "Just give a bit of a wave."

"Why?" asked Jerry.

"Well, you see, Mr. Mouse. The funny thing about wands is that they decide which wizard, or in your case familiar, they will serve. It's not entirely known why, but that's how wizards have bought their wands for centuries. Now just give a little flick and we'll see if that one is right for you."

Jerry gave a small flick of his arm. Much to his dismay the wand did nothing but flop pathetically in his hand, as if it were made of rubber. At this Tom could no longer control himself, he burst into tears of laughter. This however was quickly silenced by Dumbledore's disapproving glare.

Meanwhile, Ollivander took the wand from Jerry and put it back in its slot.

"Right then, Mr. Cat. Your turn."

He picked out one of the bigger wands and handed it to Tom.

"Eleven inches, ash, unicorn hair core."

As soon as Tom took the wand in his hand he knew exactly how he wanted to test it. Mischievously he pointed his wand at Jerry and gave a brisk flick of his wrist.

Whatever Tom had been expecting the wand to do, it didn't do it. Instead it came free of his hand and flew through the air towards his face, the point catching him on his rubbery nose. Tom yelped and leapt back as the wand clattered to the ground. Jerry rolled around on the floor in uncontrollable laughter.

"Perhaps in future you'll think twice before trying to curse the being you are going to be working with for the next seven years" said Dumbledore as Ollivander put the wand back into its slot.

The next hour was spent trying out at least thirty pairs of wands, big and small, none of which worked for either Tom or Jerry. Ollivander sighed in exasperation as he put Tom's thirty first wand back into its slot.

"I suppose it only makes sense that the future protectors of Harry Potter should give me as much trouble in finding a wand as he did." He picked out the thirty second tiny wand of the day and handed it to Jerry.

"Two inches, walnut wood, core of unicorn foal hair."

Jerry took the wand in his hand and gave it a smalll flick of his wrist, half expecting for it to do absolutely nothing. Instead a tendril of yellow smoke began to emerge from it and float upwards into the sky, where it began to collect and form the shape of a lump of cheese. Jerry looked up at it in awe as it hovered in mid air, growing bigger all the time. Then suddenly it exploded with a loud pop and was gone. Ollivander smiled down at Jerry.

"Tha's your wand taken care of. Now then, Mr. Cat, let's see if this next one is right for you." He took out another large wand and handed it to Tom.

"Ten inches, pine, core of dragon heartstring."

Tom gave his wand a flick, like Jerry he too was expecting it to do something completely unremarkable. Or for it to do something that would humiliate him completely. What actually happened was a that a spark of silver light shot out of the wand and sailed up into the air. As it neared the ceiling it burst into several smaller sparks with began to float back down to the ground. As they did so they became for elongated and started to develop, tails and fins. Just before they hit the ground, the school of fish swam straight past Tom and all around the air in Dumbledore's office. But then like the cheese, they too disappeared.

"Well then, that's my job done" said Ollivander as he packed up the briefcase. "Good luck to the both of you in protecting Harry Potter, and I'm sure those wands will come in very useful."

Tom and Jerry watched him walk down the spiral staircase out of the office. Then they both held up their new wands to the light.

Their lives of magic had just begun.


	6. Old Boundaries Broken

Tom held up his wand, Jerry held up his. Twenty six years on they looked a little worse for the wear, but they still worked perfectly well nonetheless.

"Oh the mischief we used to get up to with these" said Tom. "Do you remember the time I used 'wingardium leviosa' on you in Harry's first year?"

"All too well" said Jerry. "And then you made me fly into the wall again and again. I know how that troll must have felt like."

"Yes, although he got knocked out by his own club" said Tom. "You just banged your head against the wall. "

"Thanks to you" said Jerry. "Still at least I got back at you with the rictusempra charm afterwards."

"Ah yes, that" said Tom. "But all that came to an end eventually. And I'm kinda glad it did, after all, it's far better using magic as friends, rather than enemies."

"Yeah, you're right" said Jerry. "Although I still think we could have become friends in a better way...

* * *

Niether Tom nor Jerry had ever felt so afraid in their entire lives. It was dark and they were standing with Harry, Ron and Hagrid's dog, Fang in a clearing, surrounded by thousands of spiders. Some were small as spiders in the muggle world are, others however were giants, as large as horses. Ron, who was terrified of spiders, was whimpering constantly and a damp patch was beginning to form between the legs of his trousers. Tom and Jerry didn't blame him, in fact they reckoned it would only be a matter of time before they themselves followed suit.

A year and something had passed since Dumbledore had assinged them to be Harry's protectors. Since then each had been trying to out do the other in their new job. When a troll had broken into Hogwarts last Halloween and threatened the lives of Harry and his friends, Tom had tried to cast a body bind curse on it. His spell had missed however and suceeded only in destroying a nearby toilet. At this point, Jerry had taken control and cast the 'obscuro' spell on the troll, blinding it long enough for Ron to knock it out with its own club via use of 'wingardium leviosa'. Jerry had been nigh unbearable for weeks afterwards, boasting to Tom how he was the real hero that night.

Now things at Hogwarts had become a lot more dangerous for Harry. It had started when a series of students and other Hogwarts residents had been mysteriously petrified by something that no one had been able to identify, although Harry would regularly hear some sort of sound that no one else could shortly before an attack. Apparently it was all due to some chamber being opened and releasing a monster created to petrify muggle born students, including Hermione.

To make matters worse, it was discovered by means of a mysterious diary that Hagrid had opened the chamber fifty years prior and unwittingly caused the death of a girl. Because of this suspiscion he had been arrested by the ministry of magic, and Dumbledore had been removed from his post by some busybody sneak of a school governor, Lucius Malfoy. Now, Tom, Jerry, Harry and Ron were here in the Forbidden Forest to interrogate the monster, apparently a giant spider by the name of Aragog. He was here now, in front of them, half in, half out of an enormous, funnel shaped web. The look of him unnerved Tom and Jerry, had he not been blind they had no doubt he would be looking at all of them hungrily. Certainly his fellow spiders were.

"And you...you didn't come from the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Harry. The old spider clicked his pincers menacingly and made a long speech about how he had come from a distant land and had been raised by Hagrid and how kind he had been to him. The spider clearly had a lot of respect for Hagrid, yet somehow Tom and Jerry had a feeling he would not extend this respect to any friends of Hagrid.

"So you never...never attacked anyone?" asked Harry.

"Never" said Aragog. "It would have been my instinct. But out of respect for Hagrid I never did. The girl who was killed was found in a bathroom, I never saw any part of the castle except for the cupboard I grew up in."

As he was talking, the other spiders around him had begun to close in, shrinking the circle they had made around their prey. Trying his best to keep his revulsion and fear out of his voice, Tom spoke to Aragog.

"So...if you didn't kill that girl, then what did?"

"The thing that lives in the Chamber of Secrets is an ancient creature we spiders fear above all others" said Aragog, and Tom could hear the fear in his voice. "We do not even speak its name."

"Can't we at least have a hint?" asked Jerry. Aragog remained silent and all present knew that no answer would come from him.

"Harry" whispered Ron in a fear choked voice. All around them the spiders were coming closer and closer. Tom and Jerry raised their wands. Harry turned back to Aragog.

"Right well...we'll just go then."

"Go...I think not" said Aragog menacingly. "My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid under my command, but I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our realm. Goodbye, friend of Hagrid."

"Oh yeah, cos that's exactly what Hagrid would want, isn't it?" shouted Jerry in outrage as Aragog backed into his web. "I don't suppose the phrase 'a friend to Hagrid is a friend to me' would mean anything to you, you freakishly oversized woodlouse?"

"Dispose of them quickly, children" said Aragog as he disappeared into the darkness of his web. "I can feel one of my migraines coming on." Instantly the other spiders charged forth, all pretenses of passiveness they may have had now forgotten.

"Nice going, mouse" hissed Tom. "I don't know about you, but I wasn't expecting to die by having my guts turned into soup and sucked out by a giant spider's kids!"

Indeed there certainly did not seem to be any real chance of escape. Everywhere one looked there was a sea of spiders, hungrily clicking their pincers. The fact that these were friends of Hagrid meant nothing to them. Like all spiders, they were greedy creatures and cared only if something was edible, regardless of who it was.

Suddenly a pair of circular lights appeared at the far end of the sea of spiders. Some of them shrieked in pain as the light hit their piggy eyes. Soon afterwards they were knocked aside as Mr. Weasley's tourquoise car came hurtling through them towards Harry, Ron, Fang, Tom and Jerry. Spooked by this new adversay that was squashing many of their kind, the spiders retreated. The car skidded to a halt just a few metres away from the two wizards and the animals.

"Ron, get Fang and hurry" said Harry. "Tom, Jerry, get yourselves to the car."

"We're right behind you" cried Tom as he and Jerry made for the car. It was going to be alright. Once they were inside that car there would be nothing the spiders could do. They would soon be safe back in Gryffindor tower and this whole experience would be nothing more than a memory.

Suddenly, just when Tom was inches away from the car he heard a loud screaming. He turned to see Jerry caught in the two front legs of one of the smaller spiders. The others were closing in, eagar for their share. Apparently their gluttony overcame their fear of the car. Not wanting to share its prize, the spider carrying Jerry scuttled off towards Aragog's web.

"Help!" screamed Jerry. Tom stood where he was for a moment. It would be very tempting to let the mouse who had humilated him for years finally meet his end. But then again, even Jerry didn't deserve to get his guts sucked out by a spider. Tom looked up at a nearby tree, in particular one of its leaves, dangling in a position that looked like it was about to fall at any minute. The spider carrying Jerry was now passing under it. Tom aimed his wand at the leaf and shouted two spells in quick succession.

"Engorgio." The leaf instantly grew to ten times its original size.

"Duro." The leaf turned to stone, the branch it was dangling off bent precariously, then snapped. The leaf plummeted downwards, right on top of the spider carrying Jerry. Its green innards splattered everywhere as the stone leaf crushed it. Some of its fellows shrieked in horror and scuttled off a little way. As for Jerry, he released himself from the spider's front legs and scurried over the stone leaf towards Tom. Just before he reached him however he stopped and pulled out his wand.

"Immobilus!" he cried. Tom could not believe it, he had just saved Jerry's life and this was how the ungrateful rodent was repaying him, paraylsis in a swarm of bloodthirsty spiders? Then from behind him he heard a loud clunk. He turned to see a spider the size of a pony lying on its back with its legs in the air.

"It was about to get you" Jerry explained as he ran past. Tom followed him the rest of the way to the car. As soon as they were all in, the car revved its engines and rose into the sky, before zooming off in the direction of Hogwarts. Below them came the angry clicking of a thousand disappointed spiders.

"What a bunch of nasty bugs" said Jerry, looking out of the rear window.

* * *

After about ten minutes of flying through the dark sky, the car finally landed by Hagrid's hut at the edge of the forest. Its occupants tumbled out, Ron dashed off to be violently sick in Hagrid's pumpkins, meanwhile, Harry and Tom gave the car a grateful pat.

"Thanks, old girl" said Tom. The car honked its horn indignantly.

"I mean...boy" Tom added hastily. The car backed away into the darkness of the forest once again. Harry went away to speak to Ron about their discovery, as he watched his master go, Tom saw Jerry walking up to him slowly. As he reached him he spoke.

"You...you saved my life."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, you've never done that before" said Jerry. "I never really thought you ever would. I always thought you were a selfish bully who didn't care about anyone. Least of all me."

"Feeling's mutual" said Tom coldly, then in a slightly warmer voice. "I guess you saved me too. I always thought you were just an annoying little mouse up till then."

"That's the annoying little mouse" said Jerry. He laughed a little before speaking up again. "Thank you, Tom." Tom bent down to his level.

"Thank you, Jerry." He opened his palm and allowed Jerry to climb up into it.

"You know, I think I'm going to like working with you. You're a great little bodyguard to me and Harry."

"You're not so bad either" said Jerry admittingly. "Although I still say I was the real hero that night with the troll."


	7. The Best Protection Given

"Filth! Mudbloods! Stains of dishonour in the house of my fathers!"

A piercing shriek cut through the previously quiet air like a butter knife. Tom and Jerry both clamped their hands down tightly over their ears. The former got up and made his way out of the living room into the hallway. It was just as he had expected. Somehow the curtains covering Mrs. Black's portrait had opened and as was usual when this happened, she was screaming the house down. Kreacher was already running down the stairs to see to it.

"Don't worry, Kreacher!" shouted Tom, trying to make himself heard over Mrs. Black's howls. "I'll get it." Red sparks shot out of his wand, a loud bang sounded, the curtains swung shut and Mrs. Black was silent once more. Tom headed back to the living room to find Jerry cautiously removing his hands from his ears, as if nervous that Mrs. Black might start again at any minute.

"Sheesh, I hate it when she does that" he said at last.

"I know" said Tom as he sat back down on the sofa. "And to think a nice guy like Sirius could have come from that old hag."

A sad silence fell over both Tom and Jerry in the wake of this sentence. They hadn't spoken about Sirius in a long time and now suddenly the memories of their fallen friend came flooding back to them. Jerry sighed and turned to the page in the photo album. On the overleafing page, amongst others, was a photo of Sirius taken in his younger days at Hogwarts. It was the full moon in the photo and he was transforming into his animagus form. Tom smiled and stroked the photo of the black dog, Jerry noted that Sirius was the only dog Tom had ever trusted and liked, and with good reason.

"He saved my life as a dog" said Tom, as he continued the stroke Sirius' photo fondly.

"And then we helped to save his, one time" said Jerry as the recollections came back to him.

* * *

It had been an eventful year at Hogwarts.

It had started off with the news of an escaped mass murderer by the name of Sirius Black escaping, along with Hermione buying a hideous cat named Crookshanks, who seemed determined to catch and eat Ron's rat, Scabbers, and wasn't always very nice to Jerry either. On a lighter front, Hagrid had been appointed as new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and on his first lesson had brought along a hippogriff named Buckbeak. Of course it was all ruined when that jerk Draco Malfoy started insulting the hippogriff, despite Hagrid's warnings of what would happen if a hippogriff was insulted. As far as Tom and Jerry were concerned, the scratch that Buckbeak put on Malfoy's arm wasn't nearly big or deep enough. But Malfoy being Malfoy had squealed to his father, who had done everything in his power to get Buckbeak executed and had suceeded.

To shake things up even more, it had now transpired that Professor Lupin, the current Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was actually a werewolf and a friend of Sirius Black. However it also turned out that while Black was indeed Harry's godfather, he had not betrayed their hiding place to Voldemort, who had in turn killed them, as was the popular belief. Instead the one responsible for that was actually Scabbers, or to call him by his real name, Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew, like Black and Lupin, had been a friend of James Potter, Harry's father. This had made Sirius determined to find and kill him for his betrayal, which was the reason he had broken out of the wizard prison Azkaban.

Actually Sirius never got round to killing Pettigrew. At the last minute, Harry had stepped in and decided to give him up to the dementors, the guards of Azkaban who had been stationed to guard the school while they hunted for Black. Tom and Jerry agreed that this was certainly a well deserved fate for Pettigrew. They had had experience with the dementors, just being in their prescence was enough to give one a depression powerful enough to fell like throwing oneself off the astronomy tower. And that was nothing compared to the terrible memories they brought back into your head. In Harry's case it had been hearing his mother's screaming voice just before she had been killed. In Tom and Jerry's case well...they didn't really like to think about it.

Right now they were dragging Pettigrew kicking and screaming up to the Hogwarts castle, Lupin and Ron were chained to him. Harry and Sirius had gone off a little way to talk, and Hermione, Tom and Jerry were bringing up the rear.

"Gee, I'm glad this whole thing worked itself out" said Jerry. "I mean, now that we caught the real betrayer of H.P's parents, Sirius' name will be cleared and the Ministry of Magic will have to get rid of those god-awful dementors. Man, I'll be glad to see the back of those things."

"Me too" said Tom. He looked up at the sky. "Oh, and its a full moon tonight as well, how nice."

Herminone stopped dead in her tracks, she turned around and faced Tom with a look of shock, as if he had just said a very rude swear word.

"What?"

"I said there's a full..."

And then Tom remembered, Professor Lupin was a werewolf, and at the full moon there was only one thing that could happen. It was already happening, Lupin's body was being wracked with violent contractions, like he was having an epileptic seizure. As that was happening his face was becoming more elongated, more wolf like. Coarse hairs started sprouting all over his body, and his arms and legs were becoming thinner and longer. To complete the transformation, a short, bushy tail sprouted out of his rear end. Now a fully fledged werewolf, he tried to free himself of the manacle binding him to Ron and Pettigrew.

Lupin wasn't the only one who would be transforming tonight. Tom saw whiskers sprouting from Pettigrew's face and his already rat-like face was becoming even more so. The mousy hair that covered a few patches of his head was now once again spreading to all parts of his body. On top of all this he was shrinking so that soon his wrist easily slipped out of the manacle. Soon he was scurrying away through the grass as a rat.

"Oh no, you don't!' bellowed Tom. All those years spent chasing Jerry came back to him. He got down on all fours and tore after Pettigrew, ignoring Jerry and Hermione's cries. Pettigrew's bald tail was just within inches of Tom's grasp when suddenly he tripped over one of the Whomping Willow's roots. Pettigrew vanished into the darkness and a shadow fell over Tom, blocking out the moonlight. He looked up and saw to his horror that Professor Lupin was standing over him as a werewolf, his jaws dripping with slaver. He raised one clawed arm and prepared to strike.

Suddenly something huge and black slammed into the werewolf's chest and sent him flying backwards. Tom saw Sirius in his animagus form of a big, black dog. He was snarling at the werewolf with his hackles raised. Professor Lupin for his part was down on all fours and snarling at the dog, as if he didn't know it was his best friend. Suddenly the two animals tore at each other. The dog clamped its jaws around the werewolf's shoulder, the wolf howled in pain and clawed at the dog in a vain attempt to dislodge him. As both of these animals were people he knew and cared about, Tom wasn't sure whether he should cheer for Lupin or Sirius.

Finally though the werewolf threw the dog off him and galloped off into the forest. Apparently he had decided Harry, Ron, Hermione, Tom and Jerry were more trouble than they were worth. For a while the night air was silent, then from down by the Hogwarts lake there came the yelp of a dog in distress.

"Sirius!" cried Harry and dashed off down the hill, Hermione followed.

"Oh man, what now?" gasped Jerry. "That boy is gonna get himself into trouble again, I just know it."

"Well, that's what our job is all about, isn't it" said Tom as they hurried off after Harry and Hermione. "Getting him out of it."

As they neared the lake, Tom and Jerry felt that all too familiar cold feeling of depression come upon them. There were dementors nearby. As they reached the thinning trees by the lake shore, Tom and Jerry saw that there were hundreds of thousands of them circling in the sky above. Directly below them, crouching on all fours as a man, was Sirius. He was holding his arms up and moaning pitifully.

"No, no, nooooo" he moaned. "Please, I'm innocent."

But the dementors took no notice, they glided slowly towards Black, as if to prolong his torturous misery. Tom and Jerry watched as Harry and Hermione pulled out their wands, Harry told Hermione to think of something happy, but how could anyone do that with so many dementors nearby?

"Expecto Patronum!" bellowed Harry. A silver light erupted out of his wand and formed a sort of shield around him and Sirius. The dementors drew back, afraid of it. Hermione collapsed next to Harry.

"So that's the spell to keep dementors away" said Tom, trying to block out the bad memories that came flooding back to him in the dementors prescence.

"We...we gotta help them" said Jerry, who was also threatening to drown in a sea of depression. He and Tom made their way towards the dementors, who looked at them when they sensed the new arrivals.

'Tom, Jerry, get back" said Harry in a weak voice.

"No way, H.P" said Jerry. "We're not letting you face this alone." He took out his wand and shouted the spell.

"Expecto Patronum!" A small silver light appeared at the end of Jerry's wand, but flickered out soon afterwards.

"You-have-to-think-happy....thoughts" said Harry, every word an effort as the dementors sucked the will to fight from him.

Jerry closed his eyes and battled desperately against the bad thoughts that were filling his mind. He thought of the times he had gotten Tom in trouble before they had met Harry. But somehow that didn't make him as happy as it used to now that Tom was his friend. He thought of the night he had defeated the troll in Harry's first year, again that did nothing to help.

Tom was also thinking such thoughts, but with little effect. All the while the dementors were coming closer and closer. Finally, Jerry thought of the one thing that never failed to make him happy, not once. A huge hunk of gorgonzola cheese came into his mind, towering above all the other cheese. Jerry lifted his wand and cast his spell.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The effect this time was drastically different to the last. A silver beam of light erupted from Jerry's wand and shot out amongst the dementors, who fell back in horror at the sight of it. The light buzzed through them for a while before it sprouted a long, tuft ended tail, four padded paws, and a bushy, silver mane. Soon it was a lion that was charging through the crowd of dementors, roaring loudly as he did so.

The sight of this magnificent silver creature holding back the dementors filled Tom with awe and wonder, and now he too cast his spell.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Silver light shot out of Tom's wand too, before sprouting a hooked beak and two enormous wings. The eagle patronus joined the lion in their battle against the dementors, who were now jostling to get away from them. Some were speeding away towards the other side of the lake. Tom and Jerry wached them go with great satisfaction. At last they were winning the battle, they were protecting Harry, they were doing their job.

Suddenly Tom spotted something out of the corner of his eye, he turned and almost screamed in horror at what he saw. Sirius was now lying unconscious with Hermione, Harry was on his knees looking up towards the sky. Hovering just above his face was a dementor who had apparently decided to take its chances with the patronuses. It lifted back its hood to reveal a shapeless face that looked nothing like any sort of face Tom ever had or ever would see. Where its mouth should have been there was only a dark, circular hole, making a rattle like snot in a blocked nose. Tom knew what it was going to do, he and Jerry had overheard Professor Lupin telling Harry about it once. This was the dementor's kiss, it was going to suck out Harry's soul.

"No!" bellowed Tom. He directed his wand at the dementor, his eagle patronus folded in its wings and dived right for it...only to be stopped as another dementor flew straight into its path. The eagle was forced to hover for a few, precious moments while it saw off the dementor. In those moments, the dementor attacking Harry lowered what passed for its mouth to Harry's.

At this point Tom felt the despair flood over him again. His patronus and Jerry's had seen off many dementors but what did that matter when there were a thousand more to replace them. And now one of them was going to suck out Harry's soul and leave him a brain dead zombie. As another dementor appeared in front of him, Tom's eagle patronus vanished.

"No, get away from him!" shouted Jerry, directing his wand at the dementor in front of Tom. It glided towards him and revealed Harry being attacked by the other one. The same despair that had snuffed out Tom's patronus like a candle now began to engulf Jerry, he could no longer think straight. All he could think about was the dementor that was threatening to suck out Harry's soul, and the one that was gliding ominously towards him. The silver lion vanished and the dementors closed in for the kill.

"Expecto Patronum!"

The loud bellow that sounded from further along the lake caught the attentions of every dementor present. Another patronus, a stag this time, came galloping across the surface if the water, its antlers lowered and poised for the dementors. They moaned in horror at the sight of it and glided desperately away. The stag's antlers caught the hood of one dementor, it writhed about wildly before freeing itself and soaring away with its companions. Soon, every single dementor was gone from the lakeside. The stag walked back in the direction it had come before vanishing.

At this point, Harry fainted. Tom and Jerry tried to get a good look at their saviour, but before they could do so, they too lost consciousness.

* * *

"Professor, Black's innocent!"

"It was Pettigrew, he transformed into a rat"

"You have to believe us!"

These were the frantic words that Harry, Hermione, Tom and Jerry were saying to Professor Dumbledore. They had woken up in the hosptial wing and had just heard the news that Sirius had been captured, was being held hostage in Professor Flitwick's office and was awaiting the dreaded dementor's kiss. Nobody had believed their claims of Sirius' innocence, and now even Dumbledore was holding up his hand to silence them.

"I do believe you, all of you. But I'm afraid the word of two thirteen year old wizards and a cat and a mouse, however honest and true, will not convince anyone who has listened to the word of a whole street of witnesses who claim Black's guilt."

"But...Professor Lupin..." began Tom.

"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest, Thomas, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late. Sirius will be worse than dead." He paused for a moment before going on.

"What we need is a little more time." He turned to Hermione. "Three turns should do it, Miss Granger" And he headed out of the hospital wing.

What Dumbledore mean by 'three turns' Tom and Jerry would not find out right now. They both had something on their minds which they wanted to discuss with Dumbledore, and they followed him out of the hospital wing.

"Professor Dumbledore" they cried in unison. He turned to face them.

"Yes?" he said in a patient voice. Tom hung his head and spoke first.

"Down by the lake, when Harry was being attacked by dementors, me and Jerry, we...well we tried to use 'expecto patronum' against them. And it worked, it really did."

"But one of them got past us and tried to suck out Harry's soul" said Jerry. "And when we saw that we just couldn't hold out. Our patronuses vanished. If it hadn't been for that other patronus then...well...you know."

"What we're trying to say, Dumbledore, is that we're sorry" said Tom sorrowfully. "We failed to protect Harry, we're not fit to be guardians." Dumbledore bent down to Tom's eye level.

"It may please both of you to know that you are entirely wrong" he said softly. "There are two reasons for this. One is that it is extremely hard for even the greatest of wizards to cast even a remotely effective patronus with so many dementors about. The fact that you to were able to cast one at all is a great feat indeed. The second is that while your patronuses may have vanished at an inappropriate time, that does not mean that you failed to protect Harry completely. If anything you helped by him time by keeping the majority of the dementors away. Had you not done so I very much doubt that he would have held out long enough to be saved by the patronus your saviour cast. Neither of you has any need to be sorry."

"Thank you, Professor" said Tom in great relief.

"Anyway, there will eventually come a time when Harry will have to fight his own battles" said Dumbledore. "I'm afraid when that time comes you won't always be there to protect him."

"Yeah? Well we'll try" declared Jerry. Dumbledore smiled kindly.

"I can see why your patronus is a lion, Jerry. You have a brave heart indeed." And he turned and headed off down the corridor.

"Professor" Tom called after him. "Do you know who it was who cast that other patronus?"

"No" said Dumbledore. "But I believe Harry might be able to tell you when he and Miss Granger return. In fact if you look out the window I think you'll both see something that pleases you."

Tom lifted Jerry on to his shoulder and they both did as they were told. At first they could see nothing but the full moon and the Hogwart's towers. Then, on the battlements they noticed movement, and what they saw made them gasp with shock and amazement. There on the battlements was Sirius, free and sitting on Buckbeak, Buckbeak back from the dead! Harry and Hermione were standing next to them, Sirius spoke to them in words Tom and Jerry could not hear. Then Buckbeak reared up and took to the skies, his sillouette well made out against the full moon.


	8. Of Mice and Monsters

**Here it is fans, the next chapter. Sorry it took so long, exam revision and fanfiction don't go together.**

* * *

The Great Hall was jam packed with people, not all of them Hogwarts residents.

At the start of the fourth year it had been declared by Dumbledore that this year, Hogwarts would play host to the most legendary tournament in wizarding history, the Triwizard Tournament. Three schools would compete against each other in three magical tasks for the prize of a thousand galleons and eternal glory. So the two other schools had arrived yesterday. The first was the French school, Beuxbatons, who had arrived in a carriage pulled by flying horses. They had consisted mainly of girls and a few not-particularly-manly-looking boys. Their headmistress, Madame Maxime, could only be described as enormous. This gargantuam woman towered even over Hagrid, the tallest person Tom and Jerry knew.

The second school was the Durmstrang institute of Bulgaria. If the Beuxbatons boys could not be described as manly, the Durmstrang students certainly could. Niether Tom nor Jerry had ever seen so much muscle on any human before. The Durmstrang students consisted entirely of boys dressed in scarlet robes. Their headmaster was a seedy looking man named Igor Karkaroff, and from the looks of things, their star pupil was someone by the name of Viktor Krum, who was apparently famous for some kind of sport that Tom and Jerry could never remember the name of. Apparently it involved broomsticks.

To enter the tournament, candidates had to be seventeen or older and place their names into a giant goblet full of blue fire, in the hopes that it would choose them. That was what everyone was in the hall for now, to see which students from which schools would be competing. The flames in the goblet turned crimson for about half a minute or so before reverting back to blue. A small scrap of paper flew out of them into Dumbledore's hand. He read the name written on it before making his announcement.

"The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!"

The Durmstrang boys, seated on the Slytherin table burst into rapturous applause as Krum strode up to the Goblet of Fire in a way that Tom and Jerry both thought was a little over dramatic. Dumbledore handed him the paper with his name on it and gestured for him to enter the back room, which he did. Once again the flames in the goblet turned crimson and shot out another sheet of paper, which Dumbledore read.

"The Beuxbatons champion is Fleur Delacour!"

The Beuxbatons girls squealed in delight as a tall girl with long, silvery hair swaggered up to Dumbledore before passing into the room Krum had gone into.

"The goblet picked her to be in the tournament" cried Jerry in disbelief. "She's a complete fairy princess, she won't last five minutes with her ditzy, pritzy ways." Indeed Tom had noticed that Jerry had taken something of a dislike to Fleur ever since she had arrived at Hogwarts and rudely sniggered during a speech Dumbledore had given. The Goblet of Fire spat out another name.

"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"

This was met with applause from the Hufflepuff table and some quiet groans from the Gryffindor one. Tom and Jerry didn't know very much about Cedric Diggory, but from the way Ron's brothers, Fred and George, had described him, he sounded like your typical sports jock with not enough brains to fill an eggcup. He took his name from Dumbledore and went into the next room. Dumbledore turned back to the rest of the crowd and opened his mouth to make a speech when something totally unpredicted happened.

The Goblet of Fire's flames turned crimson once again and expelled a fourth sheet of paper. Dumbledore snatched it out of the air and as he read it his face went as white as his beard and hair. Finally he looked back at the crowd and read out the name that was writted on the paper.

"Harry Potter"

All present gasped with shock, including Tom and Jerry who looked up at the said person. Their master was only fourteen years old, he couldn't possibly have gotten past the age line Dumbledore had put around the Goblet of Fire. Fred and George had tried that and had ended up with long, white beards for it. Yet there was certainly no beard on Harry as he reluctantly stepped forward and took his name from Dumbledore before heading into the next room. Tom turned to Jerry who was sitting in his palm.

"If the tournament tasks are as dangerous as Dumbledore says, I think we may have out work cut out for us, Jerry."

* * *

The day of the First Task had arrived. All of Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beuxbatons was crowded around an arena, waiting to cheer on their champions.

Ever since Harry's name had been cast out of the Goblet of Fire, the headteachers of the three shools had been in serious dispute. Karkaroff and Madame Maxime were simply furious that another Hogwarts champion, and one so young as well, had been chosen. Dumbledore himself was baffled and even asked Harry if he had gotten an older student to put his name into the Goblet of Fire. But of course he hadn't, he hadn't even wanted to be in the tournament. Unfortunately according to the rules of the Triwizard tournament, now that he was in there was no backing out. The other champions (apart from Cedric Diggory), had made no secret of their disdain for Harry. Fleur Delacour, a total snob at the best of times in Jerry's opinion, outwardly expressed her anger that Harry had managed to get into the tournament, believing he had cheated or done this for personal glory. Krum meanwhile glared intensely at Harry each time he saw him.

Now the First Task was upon them all. Tom and Jerry stood outside the marquee where the four champions were now awaiting to begin it. Dumbledore had gone inside moments earlier with a ministry official, Barty Crouch, and told Tom and Jerry to wait outside for him. Now he was exiting the marquee, he bent down and scooped up Jerry in his palms.

"Thomas, Jerry, it pains me to inform you that for this task, each champion must collect a golden egg guarded by a dragon. Your master will be facing the most dangerous one of them all, the Hungarian Horntail."

"How dangerous are we talking?" asked Tom.

"It breathes fire in an inferno of up to fifty feet. It has a tail covered in razor sharp spikes"

"Ouch" said Jerry.

"The reason I am telling you this is" Dumbledore went on, "is so that you may once again fulfil your destiny as Harry's protectors."

"What? But Dumbledore...we can't defeat a dragon!" spluttered Tom. "And even if we could that would be cheating, wouldn't it? Karkaroff and Maxime would hate Hogwarts even more."

"First of all, Thomas, niether Karkaroff nor Maxime hate Hogwarts" said Dumbledore. "Secondly, you will not be down there in the arena. Jerry will."

"Me?" gasped Jerry.

"Yes" said Dumbledore. "Don't you see, Jerry? If Thomas went down into the arena with you to help Harry, he would be seen, and Hogwarts would be accused of cheating. But you are much smaller, so I think you would agree that there is a considerably lower chance of that happening if it's just you."

"But...but wouldn't it still be cheating?"

"Your task is to make sure Harry survives his encounter with the dragon, not to see that he collects the egg" said Dumbledore.

At this point Mr. Filch fired the cannon and Cedric Diggory stepped out of the marquee and headed for the arena.

"The task is about to start" said Dumbledore. "I suggest you both take your seats."

* * *

For Tom the majority of watching the First Task was spent with great excitement.

Cedric stepped out into one end of the arena. On the other end stood a ferocious looking, blue grey dragon which as Tom understood was called a Swedish Snort-Snout, standing protectively over a clutch of eggs, one of which was the golden one. The dragon however was clearly not going to give it up without a fight. She stood high on her two, short legs and raised her wings menacingly, a jet of blue flame shot out of her mouth. However if Cedric was at all nervous, he didn't show it. He pointed his wand at a nearby rock and within seconds, it had transformed into a labrador. Deciding that the dog looked tastier than Cedric, the dragon flapped after it. Cedric hurried to get the golden egg and was just dashing back when the dragon noticed him again. Losing all interest in the dog she sent a ball of flame right at his face.

"Oh my god, is he ok?" gasped Tom.

"Who cares?" sneered Draco Malfoy, who was sitting a few seats down. Tom glared at him briefly before averting his attention back to the arena.

To get past her dragon (a Welsh Green) Fleur cast a sleeping charm on it. At first it seemed like it would not work, but then the dragon started to sway drunkenly from side to side until finally it lay down to rest some way away from the eggs. With an ease that Tom knew Jerry would find infuriating, Fleur casually strolled up to the golden egg and plucked it out of the clutch of real ones. The Beuxbatons cheered their support as Fleur headed out of the ring, holding her prize above her head. Her joy however was short-lived as while it snored, the dragon sent out small tongues of flame, one of which caught the hem of Fleur's satin blue skirt. She gave a small scream before putting the fire out with her wand. Next to him, Tom heard Jerry giggling.

Krum was up next. His dragon was a Chinese Fireball, a scarlet, two legged dragon with a fringe of golden spikes around its face. She glared at him and like the Short-Snout, raised her wings menacingly in the hopes it would drive Krum away from her crimson eggs. Krum however waved his wand at her, a jet of pink light shot out of it and hit the dragon right in the eyes. She roared in pain and the reason soon became apparent, her eyes were tightly shut and had now swelled up to twice their original size, like one of those goggle-eyed goldfish.

"Hey, no fair! That's animal abuse, you jock!" bellowed Tom as Krum dashed over to the egg. The dragon was still roaring in pain and side stepping everywhere.

"Squish him!" shouted Tom. "I'll give you instructions, he's to your right, your right! No, your other right!" he cried as the dragon stepped to her left, accidentally crushing one of her eggs beneath her foot.

"Oh, I'm afraid that's going to cost him points!" cried the commentator, a man called Ludo Bagman, as the dragon's thrashing tail completely obliterated another egg.

"Good" said Tom. Krum grabbed the golden egg and made his way back to the other end of the arena. The dragon handlers came into the ring and dragged the Chinese Fireball out of the ring, roaring in pain. Tom turned to Jerry.

"OK, buddy. Our guy's up next."

""Fantastic" said Jerry in a voice dripping with a mixture of sarcasm and fear. Tom scooped him up and held him up to his eye level.

"Look, Jerry. As it is, the dragon's we've already seen have been pretty bad. How much worse can this one-"

His words were drowned out by a deafening roar that echoed around the arena. Tom's jaw dropped as an enormous, coal black dragon was lead into the ring. It had wings the size of a small plane's and baleful, yellow eyes which glared in every direction. It's long tail ended in four, sharp spikes that put Tom in mind of a stegosaurus tail. Jets of flame boiled in its nostrils on regular occasions. The dragon handler leading it looked like he was going to faint at any moment. As he let go of the chain around the Horntail's neck, she turned in his direction. He barely had time to scream before her huge, tooth filled jaws clamped shut on him. She shook him about violently before tossing back her head and swallowing him whole.

"I think I just did something inappropriate" moaned Jerry.

"You did!" snapped Tom. "On my hand!" He plucked Jerry off the hand containing a pile of brown, smelly pellets and held him high above the arena.

"Time for you to do your job."

The next thing Jerry knew the scruff of his neck was no longer between two of Tom's fingers. Instead he was falling through the air, the wind ruffling his fur. He landed on an uncomfortable sharp rock.

"You-could-have-at-least-picked-a-softer-spot" he groaned in a pain choked voice at Tom.

"Sorry" whispered Tom so no one else would hear him. "Now less talking, more dealing with dragons." Jerry looked in the direction Tom pointed out for him. The Horntail had now assumed a position near the cement grey eggs that had been brought into the arena beforehand. In amongst them was the golden egg. And at the far end of the ring with an understandably frightened look on his face was Harry. The Horntail crouched down over her eggs and growled at him. Summoning all of his courage, Jerry scurried towards her. In one leap he cleared the spikes on the end of the dragon's tail and was soon along her back. He had no idea what he was going to do right now, but he carried on anyway.

As he neared the base of the Horntail's neck, Jerry heard his master cry out.

"Accio Firebolt!"

The Firebolt was the name of Harry's broomstick which he had been given by Sirius the previous year. Exactly what he was calling its name for Jerry had no idea. Then he saw it crash through one of the windows of the distant castle and come zooming towards its owner. Now Jerry understood Harry's motif, perhaps being in the air on his broomstick might make it a bit more easy for Jerry to protect him from the dragon on the ground. He just hoped she didn't try to follow Harry.

As he clambered up on to the Horntail's head, Jerry felt the ground beneath him move as the dragon swivelled her head around, never taking her eyes off Harry as he circled high above her head. Well, Jerry would have to put a stop to that. He knelt down and clutched tightly on to on of the horny crests above the Horntail's left eye. Then he brought his head forward. One minute, the Horntail saw Harry flying around in a circle, the next she saw an upside-down mouse sticking his tongue out at her. She roared in fury and tossed her head about. Jerry was snet flying on to her snout. Now he was in full view of both of the Horntail's eyes, which narrowed as they saw him.

"Er...hello" Nice weather, isn't it?" said Jerry in a voice that betrayed fear in every syllable. The Horntail roared and tossed her head back, once more Jerry was sent flying throught the air. As he hurtled back to earth he felt a high heat behind him and knew that the Horntail had tried to set him alight, missing him only by inches.

"Great Scott, he can fly! Are you watching this Mr. Krum?" came Ludo Bagman's magnified voice. Jerry looked up to see Harry zooming skywards on his firebolt. So that was what the Horntail had been breathing fire at. Jerry landed on something surprisingly soft and leathery, like a trampoline. Upon inspecting it as he righted himself, he found it was the dragon's wing. He leapt to the ground and scurried a little distance away to try and get the scale of things. Once more Harry was high up in the sky, he dived down and made for the golden egg. But the Horntail had been expecting that and brought her tail spikes up. Jerry heard Harry cry out as they cut a scratch in his shoulder, once again he was forced upwards as the Horntail sent another jet of fire in his direction.

Things were now a little clearer to Jerry. Clearly the Horntail was never going to let Harry anywhere near the golden egg, not as long as it was mixed up amongst her own. The only way Harry would be able to get that egg without suffering any further injury would be if the dragon were to be distracted in some way.

Now Jerry had more of an idea as to what to do. He looked around hastily for a flat rock, he found one lying on its own some distance away. Perfect, that was just as far as he wanted to be for his plan. Now he hurried over to the clutch of real eggs, currently out of the dragon's sight. Gingerly, Jerry tugged at one of them to free it from its fellows amongst which it was tightly packed in. To any ordinary mouse it would have felt like lead, but to a magical mouse like Jerry it was as light as a pebble would be to a human. Once he had seperated it from the other eggs (which were now rolling a little bit down the pile), Jerry rolled it like a bowling ball over to the flat rock, scurrying behind it as he did so. As the egg came to a halt by the rock, Jerry lay spread-eagled out on the latter and whistled at the dragon.

"Yoo hoo, Old Mama Firecracker. How about a mouse with a side of egg?" The Horntail turned in Jerry's direction and saw him nuzzling up to her egg. She roared in fury and lumbered over towards him. As she neared him, a new confidence filled Jerry, he stood up and wiggled his bottom impudently at her. The dragon roared again and lunged for him, jaws wide open.

Suddenly Jerry was knocked sideways as something came hurtling past him through the air. The Horntail roared and turned skywards once more. Jerry looked up to see Harry on his Firebolt, with the dragon egg tucked under his arm. The dragon flapped her wings and took to the air straight for him. Jerry could watched in awe as Harry let go of the egg, the dragon grabbed it in her jaws and brought her wings around to halt her flight. As she was doing that, Harry dived for the golden egg and plucked it out from the real ones. Jerry sighed in relief. His master had passed the first task, and had lived to tell the tale. As the Horntail came in to land, he scurried back over towards the stand where Tom was. Quickly he clambered up one of the posts holding the stand up and soon, he was lying on his belly at Tom's feet, panting.

"Next task...you can ....deal...with...the dragon" he gasped.


	9. Fur vs Fleur

"Well, well, well, Tom" said Jerry, sitting on Tom's shoulder as they passed down the corridor that went past the Great Hall. "The Yule Ball, what a night that will be, eh?"

Just under a month had passed since the First Task. The said event had caused a lot of buzz and excitement around Hogwarts. Apparently it was a traditional event that took place only during the Triwizard Tournament, during which everyone in fourth year and above would be partying and dancing the night away and most likely getting drunk on Butterbeer. Naturally for this kind of thing, people were always trying to get someone to go with them to it. And tradition stated that it was compulsory for Triwizard champions to find a dance partner. As a direct result, Harry had been under a lot of pressure to find a girl to go to the ball with, and while Tom and Jerry were still his protectors, if there was one thing they could not defend him from, it was peer pressure. All of this excitement about who was going with who had also got them wondering who the other Triwizard champions were going with. As they passed the Great Hall, they heard the discontent moans of one of these champions.

"All zis 'Ogwarts food, it eez to 'eavy. I will not be able to fit into my dress robes!"

Almost as if on cue, the doors of the Great Hall were flung open and Fleur Delacour stormed out, a pouty look on her face. As she passed Tom and Jerry she shoved them both aside roughly.

"Step aside, disgoosting 'Ogwarts vermin!" she snapped impatiently without even looking at them. "I do not vant to get fleas!"

Jerry (who had fallen off Tom's shoulder), rose to his feet and glared at Fleur with the deepest loathing as she stormed off in the direction of the Beuxbatons carriage.

"Oooh, she's a witch, that one!"

"Of course she is" said Tom. "She goes to a magic school and came here in a flying carriage. How could she not be a witch?"

"That's not quite what I meant, Tom" said Jerry in exasperation at his friend's slowness. "I mean, ever since she got here she's been complaining about everything to do with Hogwarts. And that's nothing to the way she's been looking down her oh-so-perfect nose at everyone else. I swear, one day I'm gonna..."

"Whatever you're thinking right now, I think we should probably save it for when we get back to the common room" interrupted Tom, gesturing to the figure of Madame Maxime, who was now exiting the Great Hall in the company of a dozen Beuxbatons students. Hastily he scooped off Jerry and hurried off towards the nearest stairwell.

* * *

"I swear, I've had it with that Delacour girl" said Jerry snappily in the Gryffindor common room later. "All she needs to do is insult Hogwarts one more time and I swear I'll bite through her thong elastic!"

"You think she's bad" said Tom, hoping to change the subject. "You obviously haven't been hanging around Hermione lately" he added in a hushed voice. "The other day I was passing the Great Hall and she was accusing the house elves of being uneducated and brainwashed. Honestly, when is she ever gonna drop that ridiculous spew thing?"

"I heard that" said an indignant Hermione from the other end of the common room. "It's not spew Tom, it's S.P.E.W, Society for the Promotion of Elf Welfare. And it's not ridiculous, it's in promotion of the rights for house elves and their..."

At this point Tom stuck his fingers in his ears and screwed his eyes tight. Jerry burst out laughing at Tom's blatant disregard for anything Hermione had to say about her cause. Hermione meanwhile stood up and slouched over to a nearby sofa. Two minutes later, the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Ron entered the common room, being supported on the arm of his sister, Ginny. He was shaking a lot and muttering inane babble under his breath. Slowly, Ginny sat him down in one of the common room's comfiest armchairs. Harry entered through the portrait hole moments later and went up to Ron.

"What happened?"

"He just asked Fleur Delacour to go to the ball with him" replied Ginny. Jerry's head spun around in that direction. If what he thought had happened between Ron and Fleur had happened, he would be heading down to the Beuxbatons carriage very soon.

"You what?" said Harry.

"I don't know what made me do it" gasped Ron. "I was walking past her in the Entrance Hall, she was talking to Diggory., and it sort of came over me...and I asked her!" He buried his face in his hands. "She looked at me as if I was a sea slug or something. Didn't even answer."

Out of the corner of his eye, Tom saw Jerry storming out of the portrait hole, unnoticed by anyone else in the common room. For a moment, Tom thought about going after him, but then his eyes were diverted back to Ron moaning pitifully in the armchair. Perhaps that Delacour girl really did deserve what was coming to her after all.

* * *

No amount of Hogwarts students milling their way through the corridors could have deterred Jerry from his quest. Indeed he barely seemed to notice the forest of legs that was moving all around him. He didn't even seem to care when he passed between the legs of Draco Malfoy, whom he usually avoided on ground level as the Slytherin had tried to squash him with his foot on regular occasions. Fortunately for Jerry, Malfoy's mind was on the Slytherin Common Room that day, and on Pansy Parkinson who would be waiting for him there.

Exiting the entrance hall, Jerry stormed out across the grass towards the Beuxbatons carriage, parked in the shadow of the Durmstrang ship anchored just off the lakeside. So intent was he on getting to it that he failed to notice the enormous figure looming above him until his huge boot came crashing down in front of him.

"Oh, pardon me Jerry. I almost stepped on yeh there."

"Hagrid" gasped Jerry, panting from the shock of almost being squashed. "What are you doing out here. I thought you were meant to be taking care of those wierd, fire-farting lobster things, those Back Ended Skewts!"

"Blast Ended Skrewts" Hagrid corrected him. "Actually I'm just off ter the Beuxbatons carriage."

"Taking care of those flying horses?"

"No, no I'm meant ter be meetin' Olympe actually."

"Who?"

"Madame Maxime" said Hagrid. He turned in the direction of the Beuxbatons carriage. Descending the steps to the ground was Madame Maxime. Hagrid turned to Jerry.

"If I were you, Jerry, I'd make meself scarce right now" he whispered. "Olympe don't really like mice, none o' the Beuxbatons girls do. Appparently they're scared o' them."

"Are they now?" said Jerry, trying not to betray his glee at the news Hagrid had just given him. Quickly he scurried off to the side just so that Madame Maxime would not see him as she neared Hagrid.

"'Oo were you talking to, 'Agrid?" she asked.

"Oh, just a talking mouse" replied Hagrid, and Jerry was amazed at how honest he was being. "I find there's quite a lot o' them here in the grounds."

"Ugh, disgoosting leetle creatures" said Madame Maxime dismissively. "I alvays make sure zat ze caretaker at Beuxbatons sets lots of traps for them. I cannot stand zem, none of my pupils can."

'Then today ain't your champion's lucky day' thought Jerry as Hagrid escorted Maxime off to his hut. Once he was sure that they were both out of earshot of the Beuxbatons carriage, Jerry made his move towards it. Fortunately for him Maxime had left the door ever so slightly ajar, so all it took to get into the carriage was a few hops up the steps. Inside the carriage he found himself in a room that was much larger than the carriage outside. Clearly the carriage was one of those bigger-on-the-inside things. The room was circular and supported by four, marble pillars. A magnificent chandelier dangled from the ceiling. On the fringes were several doors, each with the name of a Beuxbatons student on it. Jerry looked for the one with Fleur's name on it. He found it almost instantly, owing to the fact that below Fleur's name, someone had placed a sticker saying _'Beuxbatons Champion'_. Jerry knocked on the door as loudly as he could.

"Oo eez it?" came Fleur's impatient voice. "I am trying on my dress robes right now." Jerry whooped for joy internally, this was turning out to be better than he had ever imagined.

"It eez one of your faithfool fans, mon cheri" said Jerry, putting on his French accent. The door swung open to reveal Fleur wearing only a vest, some tights and a very short skirt.

"Down here" said Jerry, abandoning the accent. Fleur looked down at him. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in horror. She uttered a strangled cry and made to shut the door. But Jerry was too quick for her and he darted into her room. Before he even turned around he heard the door slam. Turning around he saw Fleur staring at him with a look of utmost horror on her face. She pointed a trembling finger at him.

"Le...le souris" she babbled in French.

"Yeah, whatever" said Jerry dismissively. "Bibbity bobbity boo to you too. Now listen here, Fairy Princess. I don't appreciate the way you've been slagging off Hogwarts lately. None of it's residents do. You ought to be thanking us on bended knee for letting you stay here. I can tell you're used to the high life back at Beuxbatons but Hogwarts is our home and you should at least show us the courtesy we deserve from you. And by the way, just because someone is ginger does not mean you can look down on them like they're a sea slug when they ask you to go out with them."

"'Ow..'ow did you know zat?" stammered Fleur, having regained her ability to speak. "I never shared zat vith anyone."

"The ginger person in question was my master's best friend" said Jerry. "And if you had any decency you would be marching up to Gryffindor Tower right now and begging his forgiveness, instead to standing here admiring yourself in the mirror 24/7. Frankly looking at the size of those thighs I don't know why you'd want to even spend so long looking at yourself."

"'Ow...'ow dare you. Feelthy leetle 'Ogwarts rodent!" snapped Fleur.

"See, there you go again, slagging off Hogwarts" said Jerry. "Well let me tell you, missy, I don't really think much of Beuxbatons either, with your snobby ways and noses in the air. In fact, I have a few things I'd like to do to you right now. Like this!"

What happened next would haunt Fleur in her nightmares for weeks afterwards. Jerry took a running leap towards her and landed on her right leg. She let out an ear splitting scream as Jerry scurried up her tights (he found that they were extraordinarily good for climbing up thanks to their criss-cross pattern). Despite her desperate efforts to shake him off he soon disappeared into her skirt. He was surprised to find that she was not wearing a thong as he originally suspected, instead she was actually wearing what were perhaps the most enormous knickers he had ever seen, covering every inch of her crotch. Clearly a sign of how much pubic hair she had to hide, in Jerry's opinion.

But he wasn't finished with Fleur yet. Compelled further on by her loud screams of horror, Jerry clambered up out of her skirt and re-emerged climbing up her vest. Fleur's screams intensified and she beat at her chest in a vain attempt to dislodge Jerry. But he was undeterred, as he reached the top of the vest he leapt up on to Fleur's face and stood on her nose.

"So, do I have to do this again or are we gonna be a bit more polite about Hogwarts now?"

Fleur's answer came in the form of a series of horrified gasps. She had gone very pale and looked like she was going to throw up at any minute.

"I'll take that as a yes" said Jerry, leaping to the floor. As he headed for the door, Fleur spoke.

"I von't say anything else about 'Ogwarts, but nothing can stop me from theenking my feelings about it, dirty leetle mouse."

"Well just keep them as thoughts, and don't let them out for the whole world to hear" said Jerry, as he passed a trio of Beuxbatons girls who screamed aand dashed for their rooms at the sight of him.

* * *

"Balderdash" said Jerry to the Fat Lady's portrait. He was feeling very pleased with his exploits as was evidenced in his swaggering walk.

"So there you are" said Harry as Jerry entered the Common room. "Where have you been?"

"Down at the Beuxbatons carriage" said Jerry. He leapt up into Harry's lap. "And I've got some advice for you, H.P" he added conspiratorially. "If Ditzy Delacour tries to get you down during this tournament, just let me know!"


	10. Enlisting Help

The Yule Ball had come and gone, and now that the festive feeling was gone from the atmosphere, Harry's attentions had now been reverted to the thing that Hermione had been bugging him to focus on ever since the First task, the golden egg. So far though, it was proving to be a difficult thing to work out. For though the egg was supposedly meant to reveal a secret as to the nature of the second task, whenever it was opened it always produced a shrill shrieking noise which was so horrible not only could one not make head or tail of it, but they also found themselves shutting the egg up again. Now, it was the 23rd of February and with only one day left to go before the second task, the pressure was building up on not just Harry, but also on his friends to help him find a way to figure out the egg's clue.

Sadly despite all their efforts, they seemed to be no nearer to their goal. Now, Tom and Jerry were sitting on a log under a willow tree by the lake, having recently been to visit Hagrid to comfort him about some viscous lies that some intefering-cow of a reporter, Rita Skeeter had written about him in the Daily Prophet, with some help from the Slytherins. Now that Hagrid had been comforted, Harry, Ron and Hermione were heading back up to the castle, but Tom and Jerry had decided to stay by the lake for a little longer. They were both in deep thought about the upcoming task.

"What do you think's gonna happen is Harry doesn't work this clue out?" asked Jerry. Tom shrugged morosely.

"I don't know, I guess maybe they'll disqualify him."

"Yeah, you're probably right" said Jerry admittingly. "Oh wouldn't Maxime-o-saurus and Weasel Karkaroff just love that? The Hogwarts champion unable to compete" he added in a somewhat more bitter voice.

"He's not the only Hogwarts champion" Tom reminded him. "There's still...

"Hey, Potter's pets!" came a voice from further along the bank. Tom and Jerry turned to see Cedric Diggory strolling towards them, a Hufflepuff scarf around his neck.

"What do you want?" asked Jerry as he neared them. It was not spoken casually, not accusingly. Cedric smiled in a friendly way and sat down on the log next to them.

"I thought maybe you'd be up at the castle, you know, helping him find a way to pass the second task. I know how you two are so close to him."

"We would" said Tom, "If he'd actually managed to work out what the second task actually involved."

"He hasn't done that yet?" said Cedric in a surprised tone. "But I told him how to work it out ages ago!"

"You did!" gasped Tom and Jerry in unison, their apathetic feelings towards Cedric had now vanished.

"Yeah, I figured I owed him after he told me about the dragons at the First Task. I'd never have survived if he hadn't warned me. What you have to do is stick your egg under water and you'll hear what it has to say."

"What, besides a horrible noise?" said Tom. Cedric grinned.

"No, you only hear that above water." Tom and Jerry sprung to their feet.

"Thanks Diggory" said Tom. "You're a real pal!" And he and Jerry hurried on up to the castle. Up til now they had never met Cedric in person (since animals had not been allowed at the Quidditch World Cup), but now that they had, they had to admit he really wasn't as bad as Fred and George said he was.

* * *

Tom and Jerry burst into the Gryffindor common room, breathless and excited. Neville Longbottom was sitting by the fireplace engrossed in a book about carnivorous magical plants of Britain.

"Neville!" cried Tom. "Where's Harry? We've got something really important to tell him"

"He just went down to the library with Ron and Hermione" said Neville. "Apparently he's finally figured out the clue to the egg."

Tom and Jerry groaned and slapped their hands to their foreheads.

"Shoot, that's what we were gonna tell him!" groaned Tom in exasperation.

"So, what is the next task?" asked Jerry.

"I don't know, but they were talking about breathing underwater in the lake for an hour. And I heard Harry mention merpeople."

"Well, that should be a piece of cake" said Tom sarcastically. "I guess it's only natural that they set something near impossible as a task."

"We better go find a way to help him out then" said Jerry. And he and Tom left Gryffindor tower before Neville could tell them about the possibility of using Gillyweed.

* * *

"Well how are we gonna help him out for this one?" asked Tom down by the lake later. "I mean it's one thing to take on a dragon but to follow him around underwater for a whole hour! That lake has gotta be at least a hundred feet deep."

"Yeah. I wish Dumbledore had taught us how to breathe underwater. I don't suppose there's any chance Ditzy Delacour and Prick-tor Krum would tell us anything either" said Jerry. "I bet Fleur's gonna get a couple of giant seahorses to pull her in a pink sea shell chariot" he added disdainfully.

"Well of course Fleur's not gonna tell you how to breathe underwater after you ran up her skirt at Christmas" said Tom.

"'Ere. What's all this abaatt breathin' underwater?"

A cockney accented voice came from the bullrushes next to Tom and Jerry. They turned to see the whiskered, wide eyed face of an otter poke his head out from them. He stepped out of the rushes and walked slowly over to them.

"Yeah, I know I'm an otter, and you don't seem my kind very much now, innit? But I was just munchin' some fish and I couldn't help but hearing you was lookin' for some way to breathe underwater in the lake."

"Actually we're looking for a way for our owner to breathe underwater" Jerry corrected him.

"You're pets?" said the otter.

"Yeah. I'm Tom, and this is Jerry" said Tom, pointing at himself and Jerry.

"Taaka" said the otter. Tom's jaw dropped.

"THE Tarka the Otter?"

"No, not the Tarka the Otter, doofus" said Jerry. "That otter was fictional."

"Actually, 'e was me dad" Taaka corrected him. "But anyways, if you're looking for a way for your owner to breathe underwater, I'm afraid it's impossible."

"Yeah, we thought so too" said Tom. "Unfortunately you, me and Jerry here seem to be the only ones who realise it. Everyone else up there" (he pointed to Hogwarts) "seems to think it can be done. And there's a lot of pressure on our owner to suceed by tomorrow, or drown trying."

"Well why the bleedin' hell would anyone think they could breathe underwater?" said Taaka.

"Well, it's because their wizards and can do magic" said Jerry. "But we've never heard of any magical way to breathe underwater and our owner has been taking us to that place for four years."

"Magic?" said Taaka in amazement. "Well, that would explain why the people who come down to the lake every day is all geared up with their robes and pointy sticks."

"Wands" Tom corrected him.

"Can you two do magic then?" asked Taaka, clearly excited to know more. Tom raised his wand.

"Expecto Patronum" The silver eagle erupted out of his wand and flapped three times around his head before soaring out across the lake and disapppearing halfway out. Taaka turned back to Tom with a look of utter amazement on his face.

"Bleedin' hell!"

"So, you see, that's why they think they can find a way to breathe underwater" Tom explained. "But that causes problems for us too. You see our owner, Harry Potter, has gotta dive down underneath the water and stay there for a whole hour. And since we have been appointed as his protectors, that means we have to find some way of making sure he does drown down there. Only we can't because we can't swim or breathe underwater."

"And apparently this little task of his involves merpeople" said Jerry.

"Merpeople!" cried Taaka. "Well then, I feel sorry for your Harry Potter. I've lived in this lake me 'ole life, and I always keep away from the merpeople, 'orrible things they are. Always chasing me with their great big spears whenever I gets too near. Lovely voices, but nasty little buggers."

"Wait!" said Jerry. "I've just had me an idea!" He looked at Taaka.

"In the event that our owner ever finds a way of holding his breath underwater for an hour without choking on his own carbon dioxide, will you help us see him through it?"

"Wotcha mean?" asked Taaka.

"Will you follow Harry underwater and watch over him and see to it that he makes it back to the surface alive? Even help him in the task if you have to."

"Me?" said Taaka incredulously, he looked at Jerry as if he'd gone mad. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't want your owner to die in this task, but I like I said, I don't really like going near them merpeople."

Tom nodded and pointed his wand at his palm.

"Pisces Appeario"

Instantly a tiny, silver fish shot out of the wand into his hand. Grasping the wriggling creature tight, Tom knelt down to Taaka's level.

"Would this persaude you otherwise?" he asked, dropping it in front of Taaka. The otter sniffed at the writhing fish and then, having decided it to be no different to any normal fish, pounced.

"Cor, this is magnificent" he said as he bit down into it. "Better than trout, I must say."

"So will you help us?" said Jerry.

"Yep, you've paid for me services, so I will grant them to you" said Taaka through a mouthful of fish.

"Thanks, see you tomorrow" said Tom as he and Jerry hurried back up to the Hogwarts castle, eager to sleep well in the knowledge that at least someone would be watching over Harry tomorrow in the lake.


	11. What Taaka saw in the lake

The morning of the second task found all of Hogwarts, Beuxbatons and Durmstrang clustered around the bank of the lake. Cedric, Fleur and Krum were standing in a row by the judges table, where their headteachers and Ludo Bagman were seated. A little distance away, Tom was pacing up and down impatiently. Occasionally he threw nervous glances at the Hogwarts castle. The task was due to start in ten minutes and Harry was nowhere to be seen. In the nearby bulrushes, Jerry was waiting with Taaka to show him which human he should follow underwater, but at this rate, Taaka wouldn't be following anyone. From the satisfied looks on Karkaroff and Maxime's faces, Tom was quite sure that they were hoping Harry would not turn up.

Suddenly he felt something crash into him and he was sent toppling backwards into the mud, some of which splattered on to Fleur's swimming costume. He looked up to see Harry standing there, panting for breath.

"Sorry Tom" he gasped breathlessly.

"Where the heck have you been?" said Tom. "The task is about to start. You're not even dressed for swimming!" he added. Indeed Harry was not dressed in a swimsuit like the rest of the champions, he was fully clothed.

"Well, never mind that now" said Tom as he stood up. "Did you find a way to breathe underwater?"

"Yeah" said Harry. He opened his palm to reveal a green, slimy, stringy mass of something.

"What the heck is that?" asked Tom.

"Gillyweed" replied Harry, stuffing it into his mouth. No sooner had he done so then Ludo Bagman's whistle sounded, signalling the start of the task. Fleur, Krum and Cedric charged through the shallow parts of the lake before diving like synchronised swimmers into the deeper part. Harry flustered after them, admist the jeers of laughter from the Beuxbatons, Durmstrangs and (not surprisingly) the Slytherins. But eventually, he disappeared beneath the surface too.

In the bulrushes, Jerry turned to Taaka.

"That's him, the human with the glasses who just ate some slimy vegetable or something."

"So that's your Harry Potter" said Taaka. "Well, I guess I'd best be on me way."

And without another word he slipped silently into the water and was gone from Jerry's sight.

* * *

Taaka had lived in the lake his whole life, and had seen many strange things happen beneath its surface, but what he would see in the next hour would surely beat them all.

For starters he noticed at the Potter human looked different to when he had first seen him run into the lake. His feet and hands were now webbed like Taaka's paws, and whats more, on either side of his head, he had what Taaka could only describe as gills. They must have been too, as he was not showing any signs of having to return to the surface. Instead he seemed to be diving straight down into the depths, faster than a pike after a minnow. Taaka beat his tail up and down and swam after him, he could not afford to let this human out of his sight.

Soon Potter came to one of the many weed forests that were in abundance on the lake bottom. He was swimming right above it. Taaka darted after him, those weeds were infested with grindylows, who liked to reach up and grab anyone who swam too close to their patch. Sure enough, Taaka could already see one lurking just below the tips of the weed. There was no doubt in his mind that about fifty of its friends were hiding there with it.

Suddenly the grindylow he had seen launched itself up out of the weeds and grabbed Potter's ankle. Potter turned around in shock, he obviously hadn't been expecting this. Taaka wasted no time. He shot forward like a torpedo and collided head on with the grindylow, Potter's ankle slipped out of its grasp. Taaka bit down on the grindylow's bony arm, its horrid little face contorted in anger and pain and Taaka could feel its slimy tentacles oozing up his belly towards his throat. He released his grip on its arm and instead lunged for its throat. The gryindylow writhed about like an angry pike, but as with a fish, Taaka's grip on it was merciless. He had no pity for these creatures, he had been harassed by them too many times whilst fishing in the lake. However, this time he would not be killing it. He thrust his head to the left and let go of the grindylow, sending it somersaulting away into the dark water beyond.

No sooner had Taaka done this however, did he feel the long fingers of another grindylow grasping his tail and yanking him backwards. He turned to see it pulling his tail towards its mouth, filled with rows of needle sharp teeth. Suddenly the angry look on its face turned to a vacant one and its limbs went slack. Taaka's tail slid out of its grasp as it floated back down into the weeds, its tentacles trailing behind it. Averting his gaze from the sinking grindylow, Taaka saw that the Potter human had his wand out and was looking down at the grindylow. So he had been the one who had saved Taaka. The otter swam up to him and nuzzled his chest with his snout. Potter smiled and stroked him before continuing on his way, Taaka followed him.

Presently, Potter arrived at the edge of what Taaka recognised to be the merpeople village. In what passed as the city centre was a large statue of a merperson. Tied to its tail, floating in the water were four humans, all of them unconscious. Potter swam towards them. Taaka on the other hand stuck to the edges of the village, swimming cautiously around it. He knew that if the merpeople saw him they would be right at him with their spears. As far as they were concerned, otters like him were pests.

As he neared the statue, Taaka saw another human dressed in a yellow bathing suit swimming towards it, with an enormous bubble enveloping his nose and mouth. Had Taaka been able to read he may have noticed by the name on the front of the champion's bathing suit was Cedric Diggory. He watched as the human took out a knife and started hacking away at the ropes binding one of the hostages to the statue, an Asian girl from the looks of things. Potter had already cut loose his hostage, a red haired boy, and was watching the other human as he cut through the last threads of rope and swam for the surface with the girl. He was holding a sharp looking stone (which he had presumably cut his friend free with), and was now swimming towards a girl with bushy brown hair, clearly intending to cut her loose too.

Suddenly the merpeople attacked, grabbing him from behind and pulling him backwards, causing him to drop the stone. One of them swam round to converse with Potter, who was struggling wildly and pointing at the two remaining hostages whilst speaking in words Taaka could neither hear, nor would he be able to understand. It seemed that you were only meant to take one hostage and leave the others, something which Potter was strongly against. But the merpeople were insistent and held him tight.

Suddenly they all realeased him and swam as far away as they could. Taaka's eyes widened in shock as he saw the cause for their panic. Shooting through the water towards Potter was another human...with the head and dorsal fin of a shark! The shark man's jaws were wide open and aimed, so it seemed, at Potter. Taaka shot through the water towards them, however, it soon transpired that his haste was needless. The shark-man swam straight past Potter and chomped through the rope binding the brown haird girl. He grabbed her and swam for the surface like the other champion. Taaka meanwhile swam down to the base of the statue, where he hoped the merpeople would not see him.

Looking up, Taaka saw that there was still one hostage left, a small girl with silvery blonde hair. That's when he remembered that there was another champion, a taller girl who looked the spitting image of the one who was tied to the statue. However, she was nowhere to be seen and Taaka had a feeling she wouldn't be turning up any time soon.

Apparently, Potter felt the same. He was swimming towards the girl, dragging his own hostage with him. Once again the merpeople advanced on him, intending to stop him. But this time he pulled out his wand. At the sight of it, they slowly backed away and swam away to the farthest reaches of the village. Potter slipped his wand back into his pocket and looked around for something. Taaka advanced a little way out from underneath the statue and then almost immediately afterwards, he lifted his paw up as it brushed against something serrated. Looking down he saw it was the stone Potter had dropped, the one he had used to cut his hostage free. Taaka looked around a little to see if the merpeople were gone, then, confident that they were, he picked the stone up in this mouth (taking care not to cut his tongue) and swam up to Potter, who was currently trying to untie the girl manually.

Taaka nudged Potter's arm gently with his snout. Potter turned and saw him. For a moment they both hovered in the water, then Taaka nudged Potter again, this time with the stone. A look of understanding came into Potter's eyes and he gently look the stone from Taaka's mouth and within a few minutes, the silvery haired girl was free. Tucking them under his arm, Potter swam for the surface, Taaka following close behind.

As they ascended, Taaka couldn't help but notice that the human's webbed feet were now becoming less so, and more human like in appearance. This could only mean one thing: whatever it was that had helped him breathe underwater was now wearing off. And they were still a long way from the surface of the lake. Far below them, Taaka saw the tentacles of a grindylow disappearing into the weeds. He was fairly confident that it may try and attack. He couldn't let that happen to Potter now, he had promised Tom and Jerry. Doing the only thing he thought would be effective in getting Potter to the surface a bit more quickly, Taaka nipped him gently on the thigh. It wasn't a painful bite, but it did seem to be enough to get the human moving quicker.

Taaka meanwhile swam on ahead and soon he felt his head being enveloped in cool air as it broke the surface. He turned to the bank to see all of those humans, and Tom and Jerry staring out into the water. Taaka knew what they were all watching for. He dipped his head back under and saw to his relief that the Potter human and his hostages were almost there. Taaka dodged out of the way as they too broke the surface. Taaka did the same and swam towards them, he nuzzled Potter's shoulder. The human looked at him and smiled briefly before swimming back to the shore with his companions. Taaka meanwhile dived back underwater and swam for the shore himself. As he pulled himself out of the water, he was bombarded with questions by Tom and Jerry.

"Are you alright?"

"Is Harry OK?"

"What was it like down there?"

"Mission accomplished, guvs" said Taaka.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore was kneeling on all fours by the lakeside and talking to a particularly wild haired mermaid in the strangled noises that the merpeople made above water. At the same time, Fleur was dashing through the crowds of spectators towards Harry. Jerry hurried over there in case she meant trouble, as he got closer he could hear her talking to Harry.

"You saved 'er even though she was not your 'ostage. My leetle sister" she said rapidly, pointing at the silvery blonde haired girl whom Harry had emerged out of the lake with with Ron. "Thank you" Fleur added, kissing Harry on the cheek before doing the same thing to Ron.

* * *

The task was over, and Harry was tied with Cedric Diggory for first place. Now everyone was heading back up to the Hogwarts castle, including Jerry. He had decided to go on ahead of Tom and Taaka, and was now walking alone and having second thoughts about a particular person.

"Jerry" came the voice of the particular person. Jerry turned and saw Fleur walking towards him, followed closely by her little sister. She came to a halt in front of Jerry and knelt down.

"I am just vanting to say I am so sorry for being so rude about 'Ogwarts. You were right. Your school and Dumbledore 'ave been very kind to us and I have been behaving in a disgracefool way. And it was a 'Ogwarts student who saved my sister, Gabrielle. I shall never forget 'Arry Potter's kindness, and neither will my sister."

"Yeah well, I'm sorry I ran up your skirt. I shouldn't have done that. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course" said Fleur. She reached out a shaking hand towards Jerry and stroked the top of his head lightly. She may have forgiven him and gotten over her prejudice of Hogwarts, but somehow, Jerry had a feeling it would be a while yet before she completely got over her fear of mice. She withdrew her hand and then along with Gabrielle, walked over to the Beuxbatons carriage. Meanwhile, Tom and Taaka caught up.

"Taaka just wanted to say bye to you Jerry" said Tom as they reached him.

"Bye?" said Jerry.

"Yeah. I mean, the tasks finished an' all" said Taaka. "I kept me side of the bargain and I think I've 'ad enough excitement for one day. So I'm goin' back to me little old holt for a nice rest."

"Ok, I can understand that" said Jerry. "But don't you wanna meet Harry. I'm sure he'd love to thank you for helping him"

"He tried to" explained Tom. "But apparently Taaka here can't understand human language like you and me"

"That's right, when he was talking to me it just sounded like a whole load of squeaking" said Taaka. Jerry stifled a laugh, knowing that Taaka's speech would sound just like that to Harry.

"Well, I'd best be on me way" said Taaka. "Nice meetin' you two, 'ope you can come and visit me some time"

"We will" Jerry called after him as the otter scurried back to the lake.

"Ingenious" came a voice from behind them. Tom and Jerry turned to see Dumbledore smiling down on them. "Getting an otter to help you watch over Harry, excellent resourcefulness on your part."

"How...how did you know about that, sir?" asked Jerry.

"The mer chieftainess told me about it" said Dumbledore. "But I felt I'd probably best not mention it in public, or Maxime and Karkaroff would be having a laughing fit right now"

And he headed up to the castle, Tom and Jerry following close behind.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did then please hit the review button. It's been as quiet as the grave where reviews are concerned.**


	12. Bad, MadEye Moody

"Yep" said old Tom back in the present. "Those first two Triwizard tasks were fun."

"And potentially life threatening for us" said Jerry.

"For you, you mean" Tom corrected him. "I was lucky enough not to go up against that dragon, and niether of us went into the lake."

Jerry nodded. "Of course" he added, "the Third Task that was...I don't even like to think about it."

"What do you mean? We didn't even go into the maze"

"I mean what happened after it" said Jerry.

"Oh right, yeah. That was just horrible" said Tom as his mind went racing back to that night.

* * *

The night was warm and sultry. Everyone from Hogwarts, Beuxbatons and Durmstrang was sitting at the entrance to a huge maze which had been planted on the quidditch pitch. Three hours ago, all four champions had entered it in the search for the Triwizard Cup. Whoever got to it first won the tournament. So far, Fleur Delacour had pulled out and was now sitting with her fellow Beuxbatons. There was no sign of the other champions though and Tom and Jerry were getting very nervous. They had no idea what was happening to Harry, and they had no way of entering the maze and finding out.

"Jeez, it's been three hours" said Jerry, pacing up and down his short stretch of bench. "How much longer?"

Suddenly there was a loud whoosing noise and Harry and Cedric were lying in front of the crowd. Harry was clutching the Triwizard Cup in his hand.

"About half a second" said Tom. He placed Jerry on his shoulder and rushed down to meet their master. He looked badly scratched and bruised, and was lying on top of a motionless Cedric.

"What happened to you?" asked Jerry as he leapt down from Tom's shoulders. "Was one of Hagrid's skrewts in there? Did a dementor attack you? What?" He gently tugged at Harry's sleeve. This was met with violent thrashing by Harry.

"Get off!" he cried without looking at Jerry. "I won't let you touch him!"

"Harry, if you don't get up then Cedric won't be able to..." At this point, Jerry caught a glimpse of Cedric's face. It was as white as a sheet, his eyes were totally unblinking and staring blankly at his surroundings. Not one of his facial features was moving. And then with a gasp of shock and horror, Jerry realised the terrible truth.

"Cedric, he's...dead" he gasped, barely able to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Oh no!" gasped Tom, placing his hands to his mouth in the same wide eyed shock that Jerry was exhibiting. "That's terrible! He was such a great guy as well"

At this point, the everyone else around them seemed to notice that Cedric wasn't moving. A Ravenclaw girl pointed and screamed. Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge came bustling down from the stands.

"For God's sake, Dumbledore. What's happened?" babbled Fudge.

"He's back. Voldemort's back" said Harry, in a voice choked with terrified sobs. Wherever the poor boy had been he was clearly traumatised by the things he had seen. And Voldemort back? That shook Tom and Jerry to the core. They knew that Harry did not lie about something like that, and there and then they knew that his attempted murderer was back. How he was back they did not know, all they knew now was that their up till now placid job was about to get a lot more serious.

While Fudge tried unsucessfully to hide Cedric's body from the horrified onlookers, Tom and Jerry saw Mad-Eye Moody, the new defence against the dark arts teacher, gently pulling Harry away and leading him up to the castle. This did not seem unusual as the two had grown reasonably close since Moody had helped Harry to get past the dragons at the First Task. But suddenly, Dumbledore grabbed Tom by the arm and looked at him with a look of the slightest fear on his face.

"Thomas, you and Jerry get after Moody and Harry. Watch Moody carefully, don't let him out of your sight."

"What for?" asked Tom.

"Do as I say" said Dumbledore in a voice full of authority, and Tom knew that that was not a request, but an order that should be followed without question. He scooped up Jerry with one hand, took out his wand with the other and dashed off after Moody and Harry.

* * *

For someone with a wooden leg, Moody moved with surprising speed. What should probably have taken him about half an hour at the very least to get up to the castle actually took him about five minutes. All the while, Tom and Jerry scrambled up the steep hill, trying desperately not to lose sight of him. However, by the time he had entered the castle, they were still only halfway up the hill. As they entered the Great Hall, they could see him walking up the stairs to his office. By the time they had reached his office, the door was shut. Tom tugged on the handle.

"It's locked!" he exclaimed.

"Well, it's nothing a little alohamora charm can't fix" said Jerry, pulling out his wand.

"Wait" said Tom. "Maybe we should just listen at the door, find out what Moody's doing in there before we burst in like that."

"But Dumbledore said-

"Dumbledore might be wrong" said Tom. "Moody's been ok up till now, why should anything change?"

Jerry was silent for a moment, then with considerably reluctance, he put his wand away. Tom scooped him up on to his shoulder and they both listened through the keyhole to Moody and Harry's conversation.

"Voldemort's back, Harry. Are you sure?"

"Yes"

"How?"

"He took a bone from his father's grave, Wormtail's hand and...my blood"

"Ugh!" exclaimed Jerry. "Sounds more like some kind of blood fest. This Voldy's a sick pervert!"

"And the Death Eaters?" inquired Moody. "They returned?"

"Yes, loads of them" said Harry. For a moment he was silent save for a few ragged gasps. Then suddenly, he cried "There's a death eater at Hogwarts. They put my name in the Goblet of Fire, they made sure I got through to the end. Was it Karkaroff?"

"Please say yes" whispered Tom.

"No" said Moody. "It was me!" Tom and Jerry's jaws dropped simultaneously. Under ordinary circumstances, they would have cast alohamora on the door lock and been into the room in minutes. But something compelled them to keep listening to what Moody had to say.

"No" gasped Harry from the other side of the door. "You didn't! You can't have!"

"I can assure you I did" said Moody. "He forgave them then, the death eaters who escaped Azkaban? Did the Dark Lord forgive them?"

"What?"

"I said did he forgive them?" snarled Moody, viscous now. Tom and Jerry fingered their wands. "Those treacherous scum who did not sit out Azkaban for him. Those cowards who were all too happy to parade around in masks and cloaks at the Quidditch World Cup, but who ran in terror at the Dark Mark when I sent it up into the sky last summer! Well, now I shall claim my reward. For not only have I seen to it that you have survived the tournament, but now I have also given the Dark Lord the very thing he needed to regain his body. You! And now imagine how he will reward me when I tell him that I have done his job for him, that I have killed Harry Potter!"

"Alohomora!" bellowed Tom, pointing his wand at the door handle. The door swung open immediately. Moody turned around to see the cat and mouse come bursting towards him. He raised his wand, but before he could use it, Jerry shot a spell out of his.

"Incarcerous!" Long thick ropes shot out of Jerry's wand and wrapped themselves around Moody. He fell to the floor with a loud clunk and a foul oath.

"Good work you two" came Dumbledore's voice from behind them. Tom and Jerry turned to see the Professor rushing into the office with Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape.

"Sir, Professor Moody" began Harry, Tom and Jerry in unison.

"This is not Alastor Moody" said Dumbledore, pointing his wand at the bound man on the floor. "You have never known the real Alastor Moody, Harry. Nor have you, Thomas and Jerry. The real Alastor Moody would never have let Harry out of my sight after what happened here tonight."

"Well, then who is he?" asked Jerry.

Almost as if in response, Moody began to retch and squirm about on the floor. Snape went up to him and fumbled about in his coat pocket, before withdrawing the hip flask Moody had been drinking from all year. He sniffed it.

"Polyjuice Potion."

Meanwhile, the man on the floor continued to change. Locks of Moody's clolourless hair fell out and was replaced with blond hair instead. The magical eye began to spin in its socket wildly before eventually, with a disgusting sounding pop, it fell out on to the floor. In its place was an ordinary eye. Moody, naturally quite bulky in appearance, began to get thinner. His wooden leg broke away from his body and shot across the room like a rocket as it was replaced with a real one. Eventually it was no longer Mad Eye Moody lying bound on the floor, but a tall, skinny, blond man who Tom and Jerry had never seen before. Dumbledore guided him with his wand into a chair.

"Barty Crouch Jr." he said in a contemptous voice. He snapped his fingers and held out his arm adjacent to his body. "Severus, the truth potion. Minerva, Thomas, Jerry, please leave the room."

Tom and Jerry nodded. Tom took Harry's hand in his paw.

"Come on Harry, let's get you up to the Hospital Wing."

"Harry must stay, Thomas" said Dumbledore as Snape placed a small bottle in his outstretched palm. Professor McGonagall looked at him in shock.

"Dumbledore he ought to come with his familiars and I. I mean look at him, he's-"

"He must stay, Minerva" said Dumbledore. "For he needs to understand. He needs to know why he has been put through what happened to him tonight, and who by."

"Very well" said Professor McGonagall. She scooped up Jerry in her palm, took Tom by the paw and lead them both out of the room, followed shortly afterwards by Snape. The door slammed shut immediately afterwards. As Snape stalked off down the corridor, Tom and Jerry turned to Professor McGonagall.

"Professor, it was Voldemort" said Tom. McGonagall, who had been making to head off down the corridor after Snape, turned to him with a look of shock on her face.

"The Dark Lord?"

"Yes" said Jerry. "We overheard Harry telling Moody, or whoever it is in there, that he's back. Body and all!" Professor McGonagall's face went very white, she placed her hand to her heart. For several long moments, they all stood there in complete silence. Then finally, McGonagall crouched down to Tom and Jerry's level.

"Well then, I think you'd best keep an extra close eye on Mr. Potter in future. Don't you?"

* * *

**Ok, seriously guys. Why aren't there any reviews? Authors like me put a lot of effort into writing fics like this, and it's just insulting when nobody can be bothered to write feedback for them. So could I please get at least one review for this chapter? Thank you.**


	13. The Dementors Return

The sun was setting over Privet Drive. Jerry sat alone in the garden, just underneath the living room window. In some ways this was not unusual as he was never allowed in the house, nor was Tom. As it is, Harry's Aunt Petunia only let Hedwig the owl in the house as long as she stayed in her cage. Tom and Jerry refused to do any such thing. And so the garden was where they spent their summers at the Dursleys.

However, normally Tom would be with Jerry. This evening however, he was not. It had started when Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had caught him, Jerry and Harry listening in to the Muggle News, which they all did these days in the hopes of finding out stuff that might suggest death eater activity. Unsurprisingly, Uncle Vernon had behaved completely irrationally and exiled them all from the garden for the evening. So Tom and Harry had had to find somewhere else to lay low for a while. However, not wanting to miss out on so much as a word of sinister activity, Harry had asked Jerry to listen in on the news, since he was the smallest and so the least likely to be seen by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon.

So far thought, the most sinister thing that had happened on the news was the fact that Bernie the Water Skiing Budgerigar had had a few close shaves with drowning in the goldfish bowl. And so Jerry was left with absolutely nothing to do except sit around waiting for Harry and Tom's return.

'Oh well' he thought to himself, 'at least old Voldy seems to be keeping quiet, for now. And I guess that means H.P won't be getting in any trouble for a while.'

Suddenly a flash of silver appeared against the bright orange sky. Jerry looked up to see an eagle patronus swoop down and alight on the lawn in front of him. It's beak opened and it spoke with Tom's voice.

"We're under attack, me, Harry and Dudley. Dementors under the bridge two miles away. Come quick!"

The patronus vanished. Jerry withdrew his wand and ran as fast as his legs could carry him in the direction of the said bridge. He couldn't care less about Harry's fat cousin, Dudley, who had deliberately stepped on his tail on numerous ocassions. But Harry was in danger, and once again, Jerry was being called to action.

* * *

After about half an hour of running, Jerry finally reached the bridge. The scene that greeted his eyes was one of pandemonium. There were two dementors, one of which was trying to get past Tom's eagle patronus, which was constantly dive bombing it. But still the dementor persisted. The second one was gliding towards Harry, who had pulled out his wand and was desperately trying to cast an effective patronus. Away from all the action, Dudley lay on his back on the floor, unconscious.

"Expecto Patronum" shouted Jerry, summoning the image of gorgonzola cheese into his mind. The silver lion burst from his wand and leapt for the nearest dementor, namely the one Tom's patronus was trying to see off. It clasped its jaws around the dementor's skinny, scabby arm and shook it around like a piece of cloth, before tossing it away into the ever growing darkness.

"Thanks pal" said Tom as he directed his patronus over to the second dementor. The silver eagle's talons latched on to the dementor's shoulders, causing it to make a strangled shrieking noise as if it were in pain. It threw itself about wildly in a vain attempt to dislodge the patronus. Meanwhile, Jerry's lion charged forwards and crashed into the dementor head on. Tom's eagle released its grip as the lion went galloping off towards the other side of the bridge. Eventually it tossed its maned head and like the one before it, the dementor was sent tumbling away into the night.

"You OK, H.P?" asked Jerry. Harry didn't answer, instead he pointed in the direction Jerry had come from. As he did so, both Tom and Jerry felt that all too familiar feeling of despair that came with the prescence of a dementor. They turned to see a horiffic sight. The other dementor had come back and was hovering over the prostate Dudley. It pulled back its hood to reveal its hideous mouth and prepared to perform its terrible kiss.

The sight of the dementor's kiss always made Tom and Jerry sick, but Harry's stomach was made of stronger stuff. He dashed towards Dudley and the dementor, pulled out his wand and cast his spell.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Out of Harry's wand erupted a silver stag patronus. It caught the dementor on its antlers and reared up on its hind legs, before throwing it to the ground. It leapt on top of the dementor and stomped on it. Eventually though, the dementor wriggled free of the stag's hooves and glided off into the night. Tom and Jerry watched it as it disappeared.

"Sorry pal, the kitchen is closed" shouted Tom, pointing at Dudley. At that moment, Harry's cousin groaned and opened his eyes. Jerry scurried over to Dudley and leapt on to his chest as he looked up at Harry.

"H-Harry" he groaned in a slurred voice.

"Yeah it's him" said Jerry. "And guess what, Fat Guy? He just saved your life."


	14. Instant Enemies

The courtroom at the Ministry of Magic was emptying. Tom and Jerry stumbled out after Harry and Dumbledore.

It had been a hectic few days. It had started straight after the dementor attack. Harry had been charged with illegally performing a Patronus charm and ordered to come to a hearing at the ministry. Cornelius Fudge, standing for the prosecution, seemed almost determined to have Harry expelled from Hogwarts. Tom and Jerry had no doubt that this was due to his fear that Harry would tell the rest of the wizarding world about Voldemort's return. Fortunately, after a testimony from Dumbledore and, of all people, the Dursley's neighbour, Mrs. Figg, the charges had been dropped.

"Well, I think we got away with that." said Jerry. "Good thing Dumbledore's got a good way with politics, or else you'd be getting your butt dragged off to Azkaban via the non scenic route!"

"Yeah, thanks for that reminder, Jerry" said Harry sarcastically. "I just need the loo, can you wait for me for a second?"

"Of course" said Tom as Harry disappeared into the nearby men's toilet.

"Hey, Tom" whispered Jerry, tugging at Tom's tail. "Where do you think old Fudge-Cake is going with that seedy looking woman?"

Tom looked in the direction Jerry was pointing to see Fudge escorting a short, squat witch with short, grey hair and enough wrinkles to make her look like a toad around the corner. The way his eyes flashed about the room made it all too clear that he was hoping not to be seen. As he rounded the corner, Tom and Jerry ran towards him. They stopped at the wall and Jerry poked his head round to see what was going on. Fudge was facing the toad-like witch and speaking with her.

"I need you to do something for me, Dolores."

"Certainly, Minister" replied the witch in a sickeningly sycophantic voice.

"As usual, there is an opening for the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. I'm assinging you to that position. I want you to teach your students only theory magic, no actual spells."

Jerry knew that this would not please Harry. His favourite part of Defence Against the Dark Arts had always the learning of new spells.

"But more importantly, Dolores" Fudge continued, "I need you to keep a close eye on that Dumbledore and the Potter boy." He said the word Potter as if it made a bad taste in his mouth. "You saw the way that Dumbledore stood up for Harry in that courtroom. Do you think he would have done that for any other student? Of course not. They're conspiring with each other, I can feel it in my bones. They're conspiring to overthrow the ministry and tell the whole world that You-Know-Who is back."

"What an outrageous lie" said Dolores.

"Exactly" said Fudge. "And that's another thing I want you to teach the students of Hogwarts. That You-Know-Who's return is nothing but a ridiculous publicity stunt on that Potter's part."

"Don't you worry yourself about that, Minister" said Dolores. "I'll take care of this nasty little mess. You wait and see."

Thank you, I knew I could count on you, Dolores Umbridge" said Fudge.

"Well, doodle-loo" said Umbridge, and she waddled away from Fudge towards Jerry, who leapt up on to Tom's shoulder just as Umbridge passed the two. They stared after her for a quite while afterwards.

"So, you'll clear up this 'nasty little mess', will you?" growled Jerry at last, making quotation marks with his fingers. "Well, guess again, Toad-Face, cos you're dealing with Tom and Jerry, wizard protectors."

"That's the cheesiest line I've ever heard" said Tom.

"Shut up, Tom!" hissed Jerry.


	15. The Spy Who Loved Me

Tom and Jerry bustled through the crowded hallway. Weekday mornings and afternoons at Hogwarts were always the rush hours, and Jerry had had to adopt his position up on Tom's shoulder to avoid being squashed by the many shoes milling around the hall.

This afternoon, they were following Harry to Defence against the Dark Arts class. Previously, they wouldn't have done this much, but in light of the tragic and horiffic events of the Third Triwizard Task, Dumbledore had assigned them to keep an eye on Harry as best they could. Even if that meant following him to class. However, to save Harry any sort of embarassment, Tom and Jerry had decided between themselves to keep out of the actual classes themselves (aside from anything else, they had never been inside a classroom during a lesson and did not intend to start now), and instead just stand guard by the door and listen out for any signs of trouble.

Finally they rounded the corner and saw the door to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. It was wide open and standing in the doorway was Dolores Umbridge, dressed in a cardigan of a sickeningly pink shade, and with a white scarf around her neck. She was facing into the classroom itself, which was just as well as Jerry had no doubts that she would not approve of him and Tom being anywhere near her or her class. Jerry scurried into a corner just next to the door. When he looked back his eyes met an unusual sight. Tom had not made any kind of advance towards the classroom. Instead, he was standing in the middle of the hallway, staring straight ahead at Umbridge. Jerry could not believe it, Tom had never been distracted from the job before, not to these sorts of extremes anyway. Surely the back of Umbridge's head couldn't be that interesting?

Then Jerry looked up and saw what it was that Tom was so captivated by. it was something so obvious that Jerry could have kicked himself for not realising it sooner.

What he had mistaken for a scarf was actually a white, longhaired cat. A female from the looks of things. Her bushy tail was brushing up against the side of her mistress' head, her golden eyes were concentrated on her paw as she licked it tenderly, as if she were dressing a wound. Eventualy though, Umbridge walked into the classroom and closed the door behind her. As soon as the female cat disappeared from his sight, Tom snapped out of his trance and came to join Jerry next to the door. However, Jerry couldn't help but notice that the dreamy look had still not completely vanished from his eyes.

"Did you see her?" he asked Jerry in a dazed voice, without looking down at the mouse.

"Yeah, she's really something, isn't she?" said Jerry. He stomped on Tom's paw. "Get your head outta the clouds, Tom. We got work to do here."

He turned and placed his ear to the door so he could hear what was going on within the classroom.

"Quills out, wands away" said Umbridge sweetly. "You've so far had a very fragmented education in Defence against the Dark Arts, haven't you? What with all those teachers disappearing at the end of each year, and none of them following any sort of ministry approved cirriculum. But don't worry, that will all be solved."

Jerry didn't like the way Umbridge said that last sentence. He knew what was coming next.

"The ministry believes that the use of practical magic during class is both dangerous and highly irresponsible on the part of the teachers. Now I now it's not your fault my dears, none of it. After all, one can hardly expect anything less from a filthy half-breed like the one you had two years ago!"

Jerry knew instantly who she was talking about. And apparently, so did Dean Thomas.

"If you mean Professor Lupin, he was the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had! And-

"Students put their hands up when they wish to speak in my class" interrupted Umbridge. "I understand that these previous teachers have planted it into your minds that your going to be attacked at any minute, and so therefore the use of practical magic has run riot in their classes. However, I believe that as long as one studies the theory of magical defence properly, they should be able to perform the spell perfectly come the exam."

"How bogus" hissed Jerry, resisting the urge to shout it out loud.

"Yeah, well what good is theory going to be out there in the real world?" shouted Harry's voice.

"Don't shout, Mr. Potter" barked Umbridge, and then, returning to her sickly sweet simper, "This is school, not the real world. As for the real world, there is absolutely nothing out there that can harm you. Therefore there is no need to use defensive spells in practise."

"Nothing out there?" shouted Harry, louder this time. "What about Lord Voldemort?"

A unanimous gasp came from the other side of the door. Jerry knew that Harry had shocked everyone in the classroom with Voldemort's name. For a while, the classroom was silent. Then, Umbridge spoke up again.

"You have all be told that a certain dark wizard has returned from the brink of death to haunt the wizarding world. This is a lie!". Umbridge said those two sentences as if she were talking to a gang of kindergarten students.

"It's not a lie!' bellowed Harry.

"Detention, Mr. Potter" snapped Umbridge. "And ten points from Gryffindor!'

"I can't believe this woman" whispered Jerry. "Can you Tom?"

Tom didn't answer, Jerry looked up and groaned. Tom was standing by the keyhole of the door and peering through it with an amorous look on his face. Jerry flicked his wand and a small spark shot out of it and hit Tom's bottom. The cat grabbed in inflicted area and stifled a screech of pain. He glared at Jerry.

"What did you do that for?" he demanded.

"Did you hear a word that's been said in that classroom?" said Jerry, pointing at the door with his wand. "That woman is telling them all that Voldy's return is a lie!"

"It is a lie" came a new voice. Tom and Jerry looked to see the white cat exiting the classroom, the door of which had been left slgihtly ajar.

"What are you two sneaks doing hanging around outside my mistress' classroom?" she demanded icily.

"We're trying to listen out for certain things going on in there" repiled Jerry in an equally cold voice. "In fact, you could do with listening to a few words from us. Words like 'none of your business what we're doing hanging around outside this classroom!'"

"Ignore him" Tom said hastily. "He was up late last night. So anyways, I'm Tom, and you are...?"

"Duchess. And don't try to use some corny pick up line on me. I only belong to one living soul on earth and that is my mistress. So if you think I'm gonna be leaving her to spend any part of my life with some blue loser like you, think again. I mean, hanging out with a mouse, how low can you go?"

"Speak for yourself" said Jerry. "We're not the ones stuck with Toad-Face in there."

Duchess leapt over to Jerry and pinned him to the ground beneath her paw.

"Listen carefully, Mouse. I'm warning you, both of you. You stop spying on my mistress right now or one of you is never gonna see the light of day again. Specifically the little one. My mistress was sent to this school to spy on that Potter boy, and if you know what's good for you you will not intervene. Otherwise neither of you will live to see the light of day again."

"Duchess" cooed Umbridge. "Where are you?"

With surprising quickness, Duchess released Jerry, and scurried back into the classroom.

* * *

"Well, I think we know now, more than ever, that Umbridge is the worst thing that happened to this school since Hermione started Spew Club" said Jerry to Tom back in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"How dare you!" screamed Hermione. "You're comparing my society, which has done nothing but good, to that...that talking overcooked plum pudding!"

"If your idea of good is annoying the heck out of the house elves to the point where they almost go on strike, then yes, I am comparing Umbridge to your club" said Jerry. "But let's come back to that some other time, Hermy. I'm trying to talk to Tom."

As Hermione stormed off to the girls dormitory, Tom picked up the conversation.

"Well, yeah, I guess she is a nasty piece of work if even Hermione can't stand her. But Jerry, did you see that angel she was carrying around with her? Poor Duchess, she's in the hands of a fiend!"

"Tom, she called you a loser and threatened to eat your best friend" Jerry reminded him with a touch of impatience in his voice. "Frankly, if anyone deserves to be stuck with Umbridge, it's her!"

"Don't say that!" cried Tom. "I mean, sure she's a little tetchy, but wouldn't you if Umbridge was your owner? I'm sure she's not as bad as she first seems."

At that moment, the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Harry entered the common room.

"You would not believe what Umbridge did to me in detention!" he snarled.

"Spill the beans" said Jerry. Harry showed them the top of his hand. Etched into the skin were the words 'I must not tell lies'.

"That's what her blood quill did" said Harry. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a series of painful looking scratches. "She also got that cat of hers to watch me write lines and scratch me every time I stopped!"

Jerry looked cloesly at the scratches on Harry's arm, then back to Tom.

"You were saying about Duchess, Tom?"


	16. Jerry's Diary

September 6th

_It's now been 6 days since Umbridge and Duchess came to Hogwarts. Since then, I at least, have been trying to spy on them and find out about their sinister activities. However, thanks to lover-boy Tom, I've had no luck so far. _

_Get this, Diary. Earlier today Tom and I were in the classroom next door to the one that Creepy Old Amphibian uses to teach. We were using one of Fred and George's Extendable Ears to try and listen in. I had chewed a tunnel through the wall last night, and we were sticking the ear through that. It might have worked except for one thing...Tom stuck a flower in the earhole, for Duchess. This was bad not just because it meant I couldn't hear nothing, but as it happens, Duchess is allergic to flowers._

_So after she destroyed the flower she pulled the ear through to her side of the tunnel, and guess who got pulled along with it?_

_So right now, I'm sitting on a pillow in the hospital wing. The parts of my skin that weren't scratched to death by Miss Puffball are encrusted with her snot. And I still ain't no closer to finding out anything about her or her mistress. All I can say is that for his own sake, Tom had better stay away from me this evening. Cos otherwise I am gonna kick his ass halfway to Durmstrang._

_Still, I guess there are a couple of good things that came outta this. One: Duchess made her allergies even worse by destroying the flower, and two: I get to have a nice hot bath to wrench out my scratches and wash off Duchess' nose slime._

September 8th

_Well, things here at Hogwarts have really gone uphill, not!_

_The Ministry of Magic (actually to be fair, just Cornelius Fudge-Cake), has granted Umbridge the title of Hogwarts High Inquisitor. This means that, apart from Dumbledore, she is now the most powerful person in the school. She has the power to remove teachers from their posts and to severely punish anyone who so much as bends the rules. I hate to think what will happen to people who actually break them._

_Anyway, this means that now, Tom and I really have to keep a close eye on her. Unfortunately, love sickness is a disease that can't easily be cured. _

_I had the idea of drugging Duchess' drinking water with veritaserum, hoping maybe she could tell us more about Umbridge's exact plans whilst under the influence. So Tom and I went down to Snape's store cupboard to get some. But while I was getting the potion we NEEDED, he was getting another potion he WANTED. Amortentia, I think it's called. Apparently it's the strongest love potion in existence. Anyways, we were just about to go into Umbridge's classroom (after that Old Rockfish had left it, of course), when I found out about the love potion. We got into a fight over it, I said we should give her the veritaserum. He said we could hold that off till later, but first he wanted to put the love potion in the water._

_Anyway, what we didn't count on was Duchess being inside the classroom and hearing us arguing outside. She came outside, cuffed us both around the ear and chased us halfway down the hall._

_To make matters worse, who should we run into but Draco Malfoy and his thugs. _

_"Potter's Pets" he sneered. "Where are you two going in such a hurry?"_

_"None of your business" I said._

_"Watch how you talk to me, Rodent!" he snarled. "I'm a member of the Inquisitorial Squad now. That means if I think you and that piece of blue carpet are up to something, you'll be in serious trouble."_

_Tom asked him who gave him the position of Inquisitorial Sqaud member, and who should it be but that Hippo in Pink, Umbridge?_

_Thinking about it, the way Umbridge is acting at Hogwarts reminds me of what Hitler did in the second World War. First she's found a position of power, now she's got her own Gestapo. I think it's only a matter of time before she starts to attack the students of Hogwarts._

_Anyway, Tom and I aren't speaking to each other right now. And I won't speak to him again until he apologises about messing up our plan because of his stupid love potion._

October 15th

_Well, Tom and I are speaking to each other again. We really need to work together now._

_Because of Umbridge's 'Ministry Approved' lessons, H.P, H.G and R.W have decided to start up their own defence against the dark arts class. And this class will be to teach people how to fight Voldemort himself. Needless to say, Harry will be teaching it, he does after all have the most experience in fighting You-Know-Who. (God, I don't know why it's so hard for so many wizards to say his real name. I mean...Voldemort. What harm can his name do? It's not like it's going to say "Avada Kedavra" and kill someone, is it?)_

_Anyway, we had the kickoff rally yesterday and now H.P has instructed me and Tom to distract the Inquisitorial Squad while him, Ron and Hermione find a place to hold their classes. Today, we had our first tryout._

_Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were walking down the hallway and looking at every student as if they may have something to hide. Me and Tom were hiding out around the corner. Tom cast the Avis charm and little green birds came out of his wand. Then he pointed his wand at the Inquisitorial squad and said "Oppungo". So the birds started attacking them. And just so there could be no doubt who it was, we leapt out from our hiding place and stuck our tongues out at them. They gave chase of course but we had the upper hand. First of all we could run faster than them (all those years of chasing each other really paid off), secondly, it was hard for them to give a real chase with a bunch of angry birds fluttering about them. And thirdly, H.P was nice enough to lend us his invisibility cloak. So as soon as we found a bit of corridor that was unoccupied, we just slipped it on. And since the Squad don't know anything about Harry's cloak (at least I don't think they do) they soon gave up._

_So the good news is, Tom and I are working together again and it looks like we're gonna be quite good at keeping the Squad away from Harry's classes. The bad news is that a little bit later, I saw Tom using the Avis charm again. Only this time, he was using it to make the birds follow Duchess around with a Chocolate Frog Box. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that she ate the birds but left the frog._


	17. A Grim Coincidence

**OK Potter fans, my apologies if the events here are slightly out of order, but I figured it would probably be good for the story. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless.**

* * *

Tom and Jerry stood outside the window of the History of Magic classroom. For most of Harry's classes they stood outside the door and listened in for anything that sounded suspiscous, but Professor Binns had such a boring, monotonous voice that they had both agreed that for his classes, it would be better to just look in through the window for anything suspiscous, to save themselves being bored to death.

"Anything to report?" asked Tom, sitting below the window.

"No" said Jerry in a bored tone. He was standing on the windowsil and looking in, resisting the urge to look at the clock on the wall and see how long it would be before the lesson ended.

Tom sighed and returned to picking blades of grass and shredding them. The boredom of even being near History of Magic class was not the only thing that was getting him down. From the moment he had first set eyes on Duchess he had liked her, and over the past two months had done everything in his power to try and convince her to return the favour. But despite all the things he had done, Duchess had not so much as looked at him for it, unless it was a look of annoyance. When Tom had first met Duchess, Jerry had told him that the two of them were not meant to be together, now he was beginning to wonder if the mouse was right.

Soon though, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something that, temporarily at least, banished these thoughts from his head. He saw a large ball of pink wool waddling down the hill in the direction of the lake. On closer inspection, Tom realised that it was Umbridge.

"Hey, Jerry" he whispered. "Umbridge at two o'clock."

Jerry snapped out of his boredom at once and swivelled around in the direction Tom had mentioned.

"Where's she going?" he wondered out loud. "Shouldn't she be inspecting teachers and frightening first years?"

Tom waved his wand and a camera appeared out of thin air. He caught it as it fell. Jerry leapt on to his shoulder.

"Good idea, Tom. Now let's try and get a little closer to Toad-Face."

Hastily, Tom scurried over to some shrubs growing under the next window along. Nestling among them, he stuck the camera lens out through the branches and peered at Umbridge through it. She had stopped walking down the hill and was now standing there looking up at the sky with an expectant look. For about ten minutes, she stood there watching. Then suddenly, Jerry noticed something come swooping down out of the clouds, looking almost like a cloud itself except for the fact it had wings and, on closer inspection, a piece of parchment wrapped around its leg.

"It's Hedwig" whispered Jerry, pointing skywards. Tom adjusted the lens so that he could get a view of both Umbridge and Hedwig through it. Umbridge had now taken out her wand and was pointing it skywards. Then, just as Hedwig flew straight over her, she spoke.

"Stupefy!" she cried.

"Hedwig, look out!" shouted Jerry, unable to contain himself.

Three things happened then, simultaneously.

The first was that Umbridge turned around quickly at the sound of Jerry's voice, but all she saw was a shrub. The second was that Hedwig heard Jerry's cry and banked left to avoid Umbridge's spell, but it managed to hit her in the wing and she tumbled to the ground. And the third and final thing that happened was that Tom took a picture of it all.

As Hedwig hit the ground, Umbridge (who had been about to investigate the shrub) hastily tucked her wand away and hurried back up to the castle as fast as her short legs could carry her. As soon as they were sure she had gone, Tom and Jerry ran over to Hedwig.

"Hedwig, Hedwig, are you ok?" cried Jerry. He and Hedwig weren't exactly close friends (partly because she had sometimes threatened to eat him when she was annoyed), but nevertheless he was concerned for her wellbeing.

"I think I twisted something" Hedwig rasped weakly. Indeed her right wing did seem to be slightly twisted, and the few flight feathers it had left were all askew.

"Don't worry, Hedwig. We're gonna get you fixed up" declared Tom. He pointed his wand at her. "Wingardium Leviosa".

Slowly, Hedwig's limp form began to rise up into the air, until she was at eye level with Tom. He directed his wand towards the window of the History of Magic classroom, Hedwig floated over to it. Jerry ran along underneath her and leapt up on to the windowsill.

"Well, I never thought the day would come when I'd be flying without wings" said Hedwig.

Presently, the window was opened by Harry.

"Hedwig, what happened to you?" he asked in concern.

"She had an accident" said Tom, bringing up the rear of the three animals. "A large amphibian in a pink blouse was involved." He did not need to say that he was talking about Umbridge. Harry took Hedwig in his arms, thanked Tom and Jerry for bringing her, and closed the window. Jerry looked down at Tom.

"Did you get a picture of that" he asked, pointing at the camera.

"Oh I got a picture, alright" said Tom with a grin. He pressed a button on the camera and a photograph was printed. Jerry leapt down to take a look at it. It was better than he could have hoped for. There was a moving picture of Umbridge looking guiltily at the camera while her spell hit Hedwig in the wing. Tom had captured it all at exactly the right time.

"When Harry's done with his classes, we're taking this photo to the Ministry" declared Jerry. "Old Fudge-Cake will have to give Umbridge the boot when he finds out she's been attacking defenseless animals."

"But how are we gonna get to the Ministry?" asked Tom. "We don't know the way, we don't know how make portkeys, and even if we could apparate, we can't do it inside Hogwarts grounds."

Jerry tapped the side of his nose conspiratorially.

"Ah but you see, my dear Thomas, I remember a way of transport that you apparently don't. Don't you remember when Harry and Ginny came out of the Chamber of Secrets?"

As Jerry said that, Tom's mind went racing back to the night he and Jerry had been stuck behind a wall of rubble deep beneath the school. He remembered the cry of the crimson bird that had carried them back to the surface, and he remembered where that bird was.

"Fawkes?"

"Fawkes" said Jerry.

* * *

That evening found Tom and Jerry making their way along the hallway to the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office. Tom held the photograph they would be using as evidence in his paw.

"Fizzing Whizzbee" said Jerry as they neared the gargoyle. It leapt to one side and they ascended the staircase and pushed open the door of the office. Dumbledore himself was nowhere to be seen, but Fawkes was sitting on his perch and snoring.

"Psst, Big Bird. Down here" whispered Jerry. With a tired sounding squawk, Fawkes took his head out from under his wing and gazed down at the newcomers.

"Tom, Jerry, long time no see." He yawned before continuing. "I appreciate you two coming to visit me, but couldn't you have come in the morning?"

"Not really" replied Tom. "I'm afraid we're not here to chat, Fawkes. We need you to take us somewhere."

"Where to?" asked Fawkes.

"The Ministry of Magic" said Tom. "We have something here that we hope will get that Umbridge woman kicked out of Hogwarts." He went up to Fawkes' perch and showed him the photograph.

"How dare she do that to Hedwig" shrieked Fawkes.

"So will you take us to the Ministry?" said Jerry.

"I shall!" announced Fawkes.

"Great. How long will it take to fly there?"

"Fly, fly?" said Fawkes incredulously. "When you're a phoenix, you don't need to fly to get somewhere!"

"What do you mean?" asked Tom.

"Get on my back and I'll show you" said Fawkes as he flapped down to the floor. Tom and Jerry sat down on his back. As soon as they did so, they began to see flames erupting out the phoenix's body, and sparks were flying everywhere. Before either of them had the chance to say anything, Fawkes flapped his wings and they were gone from Dumbledore's office with a bang.

* * *

The next thing Tom and Jerry knew, they were inside an empty hallway at the Minsitry of Magic. Gingerly, they slid off Fawkes' back.

"What the heck was that?" gasped Jerry.

"Apparition, phoenix style" said Fawkes. "We're one of the few creatures that can apparate in, out of, and within Hogwarts. That's how I got into the Chamber of Secrets three years ago."

"Impressive" said Tom. "Stay here, Fawkes. We'll whistle if we need you." Fawkes nodded obediantly as Tom and Jerry made their way down the hallway.

"Now, which way do you think Fudge-Cake's office is" wondered Jerry as they rounded a corner.

"I don't know, but maybe that sign up ahead could tell us" said Tom. He pointed at a sign on the wall in front of them. Off to the right were signposted three places: Minister's office, Death Chamber and Hall of Prophecy. Tom and Jerry headed in that direction.

"It's kinda strange that the ministry seems to be so empty" said Jerry. "You'd think a place like this would be full of life, even in the evenings."

At that moment there came a loud scream from up ahead, one that made Tom and Jerry's blood freeze.

"It's Mr. Weasley!" cried Tom. "He must be in trouble!" As if to prove the point, another scream sounded straight afterwards.

"Come on!" said Jerry as they hurried down the hallway in the direction of the screams. Presently, they came to a door on which was marked 'Hall of Prophecy'. As another scream came from behind it, Tom and Jerry looked at each other, took out their wands and burst in.

The sight that greeted them was worse than anything they could ever have imagined. Mr. Weasley was lying unconscious on the floor, bleeding from several bite marks all over his body. With it's ugly head raised high above him was the thing that had made them. An enormous, green serpent as long as a drainpipe was preparing to strike, to deliver the final, killing blow.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" shouted Jerry. The snake turned its triangular head towards them.

"What is this? Who are you?" it hissed in what just passed for a female voice.

"We could ask you the same thing!" retorted Jerry. "What's a big snake like you doing in the Ministry of Magic? You should be in a zoo!"

"I am the Dark Lord's servent, my venom kept him alive until he regained a body, and now I am here to do his bidding."

"Oh yeah, nice try, you overgrown earthworm!" said Jerry. At that point, the snake slithered towards them with a speed like that of a black mamba. Rearing up as she reached them, her yellow eyes glowed scarlet. It was just for a moment, but in that moment Tom and Jerry saw such evil radiate from those eyes that they now knew what it must be like to face the Dark Lord himself.

"Oh god, you really are Voldemort's snake" gasped Jerry.

"You dare speak my master's name, filthy rodent!" the snake hissed malevolently.

"He's filthy?" cried Tom in a voice filled with a spur-of-the-moment courage. "He's not the one attacking an innocent man on the orders of an evil one!"

The snake turned to Tom and bared her fangs at him.

"My master is far more than just a man, he is a almighty sorcerer. That man over there is a blood traitor! A pure blood who has mixed with mudbloods, and muggles as well!" The snake's venomous voice became even more so when she mentioned muggles. "He is an enemy to the death eaters and to all my master stands for. That is why he must die!"

"Yeah, well sorry to rain down on your parade, reptile features" said Jerry, "but he isn't doing to die!"

Jerry whistled. Instantly, Fawkes appeared in the room with a bang. Tom and Jerry leapt on to his back.

"Get us back to Hogwarts, Fawkes. Fast!" cried Jerry.

The snake, temporarily taken aback by the phoenix's appearance, regained her courage and lunged at Tom. He threw his arm up just in time, her fangs only just missed it. The next thing that happened was that Fawkes, Tom and Jerry were gone with another bang, as if they had never been there.

Nagini looked back at the unconscious man on the floor. She was sorely tempted to go back and finish what she had started. One more bite and Arthur Weasley would be beyond help. But she had more important things to do. Her master had actually sent her to find the prophecy relating to Harry Potter, and she had wasted enough time already. She would have to get a move on. With that noise the phoenix had made apparating and disapparating out of the Hall of Prophecy, Ministry officials were probably rushing to the Department of Mysteries right now.

Nagini turned and slithered back down the hall towards the shelves of prophecies, passing both Mr. Weasley, and the photograph of Umbridge and Hedwig, which Tom had dropped when she had tried to attack him.

* * *

When Tom and Jerry arrived back in Dumbledore's office, they found the Headmaster of Hogwarts sitting behind his desk. In front of it were Harry, Ron and Professor McGonagall. They all faced Tom and Jerry as they apparated into the office with Fawkes.

"Ah, Thomas, Jerry. What have you two been up to with Fawkes?" asked Dumbledore in a friendly tone.

"Professor, it's Mr. Weasley. He's been attacked by a snake at the Ministry!" gasped Tom.

"Yes, I know" said Dumbledore in a more serious voice now. "Harry here has just had a vision of it. He saw the whole thing through the snake's eyes. Mind you, I'm not sure he saw you two there."

Tom and Jerry looked at Dumbledore, then at Harry, then at each other. Harry had had a dream that had shown him the same thing they had just seen in the Ministry?

"Well, there's a grim coincidence!" said Jerry, cringing.


	18. Face to ToadFace

"I was a little worried about that photograph when I found out I left it behind" said old Tom as he stoked the fireplace.

"Well, it's a good thing Fudge had sharp eyesight then, isn't it?"

"Yeah, although we did get into a lot of trouble over that photo" said Tom. "And that really made me hate Umbridge!"

"Yeah, but it was worth it" said Jerry.

* * *

Dolores Umbridge sat at her desk in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, sipping a cup of tea. All around her on the wall were plates with pictures of sickeningly cute kittens on them. Her real cat, Duchess, was currently lapping a bowl of water.

Umbridge sighed contentedly as she finished off her tea. As far as she was concerned, all was going well at Hogwarts. She had taken great pleasure in putting that Potter boy in his rightful place during the week of detention she had given him. And apart from the ocassional deviate, the students in her 'Theory of Defence Against the Dark Arts' classes were behaving themselves, begrudgingly getting down to study the textbooks. She herself had hand picked those textbooks, favouring them for the fact that they were sure to bore any students in her class to sheer boredom.

Best of all, since she had created the new rule of there being no student organisations, the Inquisitorial Squad had not picked up any student resistors. This was a clear sign to Umbridge that the students of Hogwarts now recognised her superiority. She couldn't wait to send a progress report to the minister.

Suddenly there came a tapping at the window of the classroom. A tawny owl sat outside with two pieces of paper in its beak. Umbridge opened the window, snatched them from the owl, paid it and slammed the window in its face. Quickly, she hurried back to her desk and examined the papers.

To her shock, one of them was a photograph of her attacking Potter's owl. Umbridge thought someone had been behind her, hiding in that shrub. She had heard someone cry out. But who could have taken this photograph? More importantly, who had seen it? Umbridge's eyes strayed to the other piece of paper the tawny owl had delivered, and she almost fainted when she saw it.

It was a bright red envelope, and it was beginning to smoke at the edges.

* * *

On the other side of Hogwarts, Tom and Jerry sat outside the transfiguration classroom. They were beginning to get tired of this new routine of sitting around outside Harry's classes. Frankly, the only one they felt they needed to hang around outside of was Defence Against the Dark Arts. If there was any class where bad things were likely to happen, it was a class that Umbridge was teaching.

Suddenly an earsplitting voice echoed around the castle, snapping Tom and Jerry out of their trance of boredom.

"DOLORES UMBRIDGE! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS PHOTOGRAPH? WHEN I SENT YOU TO BE DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS TEACHER IT WAS SO THAT YOU COULD SPY ON THE POTTER BOY AND STOP HIM AND DUMBLEDORE FROM BUILDING UP AN ARMY TO TAKE OVER THE MINISTRY, NOT SO YOU COULD ATTACK DEFENSELESS OWLS. I NEVER ONCE THOUGHT YOU WOULD WASTE TIME LIKE THIS. I HATE TO THINK WHAT ELSE YOU'VE BEEN DOING INSTEAD OF SPYING ON POTTER! BESIDES ANYTHING ELSE IT'S AN ACT OF ANIMAL CRUELTY! IF I HEAR OF ANYTHING LIKE THIS HAPPENING AGAIN, I SHALL BE FORCED TO WITHDRAW YOU FROM HOGWARTS AND SEND SOMEONE ELSE! GOOD DAY TO YOU."

For a moment there was silence. Then Tom and Jerry threw back their heads and roared with laughter at what their photograph had caused. Fudge had obviously found it on the floor of the Hall of Prophecy. And now all of Hogwarts knew of Umbridge's attack on Hedwig, and all were joining Tom and Jerry in laughing at her humiliation.

* * *

Umbridge looked like she was in shock. The remains of the howler Fudge had sent her lay in ashes on her desk. Duchess had taken cover under a nearby chest of drawers, and a few of Umbridge's kitten plates had fallen off the wall and smashed. From outside there came the sound of the loud, unanimous laughter of students

When she felt she could, Umbridge marched over to the door of her office. She took out her short, stubby wand and pointed it at herself.

"Sonorous" she whispered, and then in a much louder voice: "All members of the Inquisitorial Sqaud report to the High Inquisitor's office immediately!"

A few minutes later, Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson were standing before Umbridge's desk. She showed them the photograph.

"Two days ago, someone took this horrible photograph of me. I want you to find out who it was."

Malfoy scrutinised the photograph carefully.

"That's Potter's owl. He must have faked this photograph to get his own back on you, Professor."

"No, this photograph is not fake. And Potter is not the culprit, sadly" said Umbridge. "He was in History of Magic Class at the time. Someone else took this photo!"

"'ere. What about them stupid, two legged cat and mouse who always follow him?" grunted Crabbe.

"Cat and mouse?"

"Yes Professor" said Malfoy. "Potter hasn't just got an owl. He's also got this dimwitted cat and this smart alec mouse who follow him everywhere, they've probably been listening in to your classes for all we know. I wouldn't be surprised if they took this."

Umbridge stood up at once.

"Find these animals. Find them!"

* * *

Lunchtime was nearly over. Tom and Jerry were on their way back from the Hogwarts kitchens, having convinced the house elves to give them a slap-up lunch.

"The cheese patties sure were good today, weren't they" said Jerry.

"Cheese patties, schmeese patties" said Tom. "You obviously didn't try the salmon. I thought they only brought that out on special occasions it was so good."

As they rounded a corner, they bumped into the solid, stocky bodies of Crabbe and Goyle.

"Hey, move it, Rock Heads. You're blocking the sun!" snapped Jerry. He had no respect for the Slytherins and therefore did not care what he said to them.

"No. You gotta come wiv us!" snarled Crabbe.

"The Hogwarts High Inquisitor wants to see you" added Goyle.

"And what if we don't want to see her?" said Tom.

"You don't have a choice, you useless Hairballs" sneered Draco Malfoy as he stalked around the corner behind Crabbe and Goyle. Pushing them aside, he pointed his wand at Tom and Jerry.

"Incarerous!" he shouted. Tom and Jerry were instantly bound by the long, thick ropes that shot out of Malfoy's wand. They both fell to the floor, Jerry was gasping for air the rope was so tight.

"Pick those two up and let's get them to the High Inquisitor's office" Malfoy ordered Crabbe and Goyle. Obediantly, they picked up the trussed up cat and mouse and carried them down the hall after Draco.

Presently, they arrived at the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, which Tom and Jerry now noticed had a sign taped to the door that said 'Hogwarts High Inquisitor's Office'. Crabbe and Goyle bundled them into two chairs in front of Umbridge's desk, behind which sat Umbridge herself. She waved her wand at them and the ropes vanished. Jerry took several long, deep gulps of air afterwards. Taking no notice of him, Umbridge directed her attentions to Tom.

"So, you are Mr. Potter's pets?" Tom did not answer. Umbridge held up the photograph of her and Hedwig.

"Did you take this photo?" she inquired. "Answer me!"

"Why? Are you taking a survey?" said Tom. Goyle cuffed him round the ear.

"I have reason to believe that you and the mouse sent this photograph to the Minister of Magic, with the intention of getting me removed from Hogwarts. Fortunately, your nasty little scheme has failed. But as Hogwarts High Inquisitor, it is nonetheless my job to see to it that the ones responsible for this heinous act are punished in the appropriate manner!"

"Yeah well, hate to break it to you, Fats, but you don't actually have any proof it was us" said Jerry, having taken in enough air to revive himself.

"Calling me names is certainly not going to improve your chances of avoiding punishment" said Umbridge in an infuriatingly calm voice. "I'm going to extract the truth out of you one way or another." She snapped her fingers at Duchess, immediately the white cat came over. However, Tom couldn't help but notice a nervousness to her obediance. As Duchess leapt up on to the desk, Umbridge pointed at Jerry.

"Get the mouse!"

Duchess looked down at a horror struck Jerry, then at Tom, then back at her mistress, and finally at Jerry again. Then she leapt down on to the chair and pinned him to it beneath her paw. Umbridge turned to Tom.

"Unless you tell me the truth, then my cat will eat your friend, piece by piece." Umbridge grinned sickeningly as she spoke. "Now then, did you send this photograph to the Minister? Yes or no?"

Tom looked at Jerry squirming underneath Duchess' paw. He looked at Duchess pleadingly for help. She gave him a sad look and shook her head. Tom took it as a sign.

"No" he said. "I did not send that photograph. The mouse and I were going to give it to the Minister two nights ago. But we didn't get round to it because we saw there was an innocent man being attacked by You-Know-Who's snake. I was almost killed by that snake. Of course, I suspect none of this matters to you and your Ministry of Magic, since you're the ones trying to keep the whole world in the domain of ignorance when You-Know-Who's return is concerned."

"How dare you speak like that to the High Inquisitor!" bellowed Umbridge. "Draco, punish the cat. Duchess, eat his friend. I will not tolerate deviates like them. I will have order!"

Malfoy swooped down on Tom, wand at the ready. But Tom was too fast for him.

"Furnunculus!" he shouted, thrusting his wand up into Malfoy's face. There was a loud bang and Malfoy screamed and stepped backwards. Seconds later, his face began to break out in enormous, green pustulating boils. Meanwhile, Tom grabbed Jerry out from underneath Duchess' paw and ran for the door.

"Stop them!" screeched Umbridge. Pansy Parkinson, who up til now had been standing at the sidelines, whipped out her wand and charged for Tom and Jerry. Tom heard the sound of footsteps and turned around just in time to see the Slytherin girl. He pointed his wand at the floor.

"Glisseo!" Instantly, the floor at Pansy's feet became shiny and slippery. Pansy slipped and fell down on her back. Her robes flew back and exposed her frilly underwear. Tom turned and made off down the hallway.

"Wait, Tom. Don't go yet!" cried Jerry.

"What!" gasped Tom in disbelief. Jerry leapt down to the floor and pointed his wand at Umbridge, who had just come waddling into the hall.

"Hairlossus!" Jerry shouted. Umbridge screamed as locks of her short, grey hair tumbled out of her head. She snatched futilely at it but within a few minutes she was completely bald.

"I just wanted the pleasure of doing that myself!" announced Jerry as he and Tom ran off down the hallway. As Umbridge stood there with her bald head making her look even more toad-like than usual, she could only think of one thing.

Somehow, this cat and mouse would have to be punished.

* * *

Tom and Jerry were heading back to Gryffindor Tower. The DA (Dumbledore's Army) had had another successful training session in the Room of Requirement. A Ravenclaw student named Luna Lovegood had managed to cast a perfect patronus charm, as had Neville Longbottom of all people. And now, Tom and Jerry were looking forward to some nice relaxation time back in the Common Room.

As they reached the end of the hallway however, Argus Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker, stepped out into their path, along with his beastly cat, Mrs. Norris.

"And where do you do think you're going, eh?" he sneered.

"We are going back to Gryffindor Tower" said Jerry. "Shouldn't you be going to clean the toilets in the nearest girl's bathroom?" Filch's face twisted up in anger as Tom snickered at Jerry's remark.

"You two think you're so funny" he snarled. "Well, you won't be laughing when you see what the High Inquisitor has in stall for you!"

That wiped the smiles off Tom and Jerry's faces.

"What do you mean?" asked Jerry.

"I'll show you" said Filch as he smiled a conspiratorial grin, showing his brown, gappy teeth. He hobbled off towards the main entrance of Hogwarts, Tom and Jerry following close behind. At last, Filch stopped by the wall and pointed to it.

"Take a look at that!"

Tom and Jerry looked at the thing Filch was pointing at on the wall. It was a sign. Written on it were these words:

_All animals who walk upright, are capable of speaking the human language and using magic are hereby banned from entering the Hogwarts Castle. They are confined to the grounds. Any such animal caught entering the castle will be severely punished! Anyone caught helping them will be expelled! By order of the Hogwarts High Inquisitor._

Tom and Jerry's jaws dropped. Filch and Mrs. Norris smiled horribly.

"That's right" said Filch. "You two are staying out of this castle from now on. So go on, out you go."

With surprising strength, Filch reached down and picked Tom off the ground, before hurling him out a nearby window. Mrs. Norris picked up Jerry and did the same to him. They both landed on the wet grass outside.

"Oh man, I don't believe it" groaned Jerry as he rose to his feet. "I get harrassed by two cats and thrown out of Hogwarts all in the same day."

"I guess we should have known Umbridge would react like this" said Tom.

"Yes, you should" came a voice to their right. Tom and Jerry turned to see Duchess sitting under a tree. "But you stood up to her nonetheless."

"What do you want?" snapped Jerry.

"I came to say, well...I admire you, espescially you, Tom. For standing up to my mistress the way you did. There aren't many who do that. I certainly don't." She looked down at the ground in a melancholy way. But eventually she stood up.

"Well, I guess I'd better get back. My mistress will be wondering where I am. I'll see you two around, keep up the good work."

And she turned and leapt up on to the windowsil, before disappearing into the castle itself.

"Did you hear that?" said Tom. "She said she admires me. And there was me thinking that nothing could ever happen between us."

"Good for you" said Jerry apathetically. "And we'll keep up the good work alright. If Frog-Face thinks she can keep us out of Hogwarts with a stupid sign, she's got another thing coming. We'll keep supporting H.P and the DA whether she likes it or not!" He turned to Tom and raised his wand above his head. "Dumbledore's army!" he whispered so no one would hear him.

"Dumbledore's Army!" whispered Tom as he raised his wand.


	19. A Series of Semi Fortunate Events

Woman Trouble

If there was one time at Hogwarts that Tom and Jerry did not like, it was Valentine's day. All around them were sickeningly cute cupids singing in their simpering little voices, and in all the windows of Hogwarts were disgusting pink hearts. The only good thing about Valentine's day were the chocolates, but even those wouldn't be easy to get now that Umbridge had banned them from the castle. And even though Tom and Jerry had managed to use some of the secret passageways in order to sneak back into the school, even Jerry didn't really think it was worth it just for a box of chocolates.

Right now they were on their way to Hogsmeade (with a few galleons borrowed from Hagrid) to see if they could persaude the shopkeeper at Zonkos to sell them something.

"I want a chocolate frog when we get there" said Jerry.

"Yeah, they're nice" said Tom. "But personally I think you'd be much better off with a pumpkin pasty."

"Pumpkin pasty? No thanks."

"There's nothing wrong with pumpkin pasties"

"Yes well, you've never been inside one like I have. Remember that day on the Hogwarts Express in our first year?" said Jerry. "I can tell you it ain't nice to be covered in sweet pumpkin goo."

"Suit yourself" said Tom resignedly.

"Hey look, it's H.P!" cried Jerry, pointing ahead. Tom looked in that direction and saw that it was indeed Harry walking at a brisk pace towards them.

"Oh yeah, you're right. Isn't he meant to be on a date with that Asian girl, what's her name? Chu Cheng?"

"Cho Chang" Jerry corrected him. "I don't like her much. I think she's a floozy."

"Why, because she was already going out with someone when Harry asked her to the Yule Ball?"

"Yep" said Jerry.

As Harry approached them, Tom and Jerry waved.

"Hey, H.P! How did your date go?"

"Fine!" grumbled Harry as he walked past them. "Cho's a great girl" he added in a sarcastic voice.

"Whoa, watch out for this guy" said Tom as he and Jerry trailed along after Harry. "What's with the short fuse, man?"

"Nothing, I'm fine!" grumbled Harry.

"Ah no you're not" said Jerry. "You're grouchy, your shoulders are all hunched over and you haven't looked at us once. Don't try to hide it from us, H.P. Something's wrong, isn't it?"

Harry stopped and sighed, then he turned to Tom and Jerry.

"It's Cho"

"What about her?" inquired Tom.

"She...she...she's still got a thing for Cedric."

"But he's dead" said Jerry.

"I know, I know" snapped Harry. "But she's still feeling guilty about his death, and about seeing me. I think she feels she's being disloyal to Cedric. So I told her not to talk about Cedric, and she bursts into tears. Said she thought I wanted someone to talk to about it. I don't need someone to talk about it, I'm over it now. That's why I can see thestrals."

"See what?" said Tom and Jerry in unision.

"Never mind" said Harry. "Anyway, I tell her I've already talked about it with Ron and Hermione. So she thinks I want to be with Hermione all the time, so she stormed out. Now I'm the laughing stock of the Hog's Head!"

Tom reached up to pat Harry on the shoulder, then settled for his chest since he couldn't reach his shoulder.

"Harry, you're a nice guy. Lots of people like you, girls and boys alike. You've got lots of girls to pick from, but you've decided to pick Cho. So if that isn't enough for her to tell that you like her, then she is a fool. Now I'm not saying you should burn all your bridges with her, but if she keeps up like this then, frankly she's not right for you."

"Thanks Tom, that was really helpful" drawled Harry.

"Harry, what Tom's trying to say is that even if Cho isn't right for you, it doesn't matter" said Jerry. "It ain't the end of the world. You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because you've still got us, me and Tom. Ron and Hermione. Hagrid, Dumbledore, the DA. All of us. We'll be here for you, always, even if Cho won't."

For a moment, Harry's morose expression was unchanged. Then the corners of his mouth twisted upwards into a smile. He stroked Tom and Jerry on the head.

"Thanks guys. I appreciate you, both of you."

"Yeah of course you do, now let's go have some cocoa at Hagrid's place" said Tom.

Discovered

Dumbledore's Army was doing better than ever today. They were practising patronus charms today, and all around their heads were silver animals, gallloping, bounding, swimming and flying about. Tom's silver eagle folded in its wings and plummeted down towards the floor, before flying straight back up again, narrowly missing Ginny Weasley's horse patronus.

"You know, I don't know about you Jerry, but after all this training we've had, I think the DA is ready for just about anything the world can throw at it" said Tom optimistically.

Suddenly there came a loud crack. Tom and Jerry turned to see Dobby the house elf standing in the middle of the Room of Requirement, shaking from head to toe. Harry went up to him.

"Hi Dobby. What's wrong?"

"Harry Potter, sir. I...house elves have been warned not to tell but...Dobby came to warn you...she...she..." stammered the elf. Tom and Jerry's blood ran cold, their patronuses vanished, along with everyone else's.

"Who's 'she'?" asked Harry.

"Umbridge of course!" shouted Jerry. "Isn't it, Dobby?"

Dobby nodded forlornly. Harry turned to address the rest of the DA.

"What are you waiting for? Run. They're coming!"

Every student in the room instantly made a burst for the door, soon they were all pushing and shoving to get out. Dobby snapped his fingers and was gone from the Room of Requirement. Tom and Jerry ran over to Harry.

"You two go as well" he bellowed. "That's an order"

"No can do, H.P" said Jerry. "If it's a fight Toad Face wants, it's a fight she'll get!"

"She's banned you from the castle" Harry reminded him. "If she sees you in here you'll both be chucked out of Hogwarts, and how is that going to help me in the long run?"

"Good point" said Tom. He scooped up Jerry and ran for the door. Just as he opened it though, he found Duchess sitting there blocking his way.

"You'll never make it" she said. "They're almost here, they'll see you if you try to make a run for it."

"Why are you telling us this, if you're blocking the doorway?" demanded Jerry.

"Because I want to help you" said Duchess, entering the Room of Requirement. She looked intensely at the wall for the few moments. The next thing that happened was that a pair of crimson curtains billowed down from the celing. She went over to them.

"Come on" she whispered at Tom and Jerry as she hid herself amongst them. Jerry leapt down from Tom's palm as the latter followed Duchess into the curtains. He turned back to Harry.

"Come on, H.P! Hurry!"

Harry ran for the curtains, only to trip over nothing and fall flat on his face. A drawling laughter that could only belong to Draco Malfoy came from the doorway.

"Trip jinx, Potter" he sneered as he entered the room. Then suddenly and without warning, he turned in Jerry's direction.

"You!" he snarled. Jerry wasted no time, he scurried over to the curtains as fast as he could.

"What are you doing?" hissed Tom. "You're gonna blow our cover."

"Sssshh". Jerry shushed Tom as the sound of footsteps entering the room came about.

"I've got one of them, Professor" boasted Malfoy.

"It's him!" trilled Umbridge. She had obviously seen Harry lying down on the floor. "Excellent work, Mr. Malfoy. Fifty points to Slytherin. And a further fifty points will be given to anyone else who finds another member of this illegal organisation. Miss Parkinson, check the girls lavatory. Crabbe, Goyle, check the boys."

"Professor. Potter's mouse, the one you had banned from the castle. I saw him in this room."

"What? Where?"

"He's scurried underneath those curtains." Tom and Jerry's jaws dropped. They felt the ruffle of curtains as...as Duchess went out into the open.

"Ah, Duchess" crooned Umbridge. "Mr. Malfoy here says that Mr. Potter's talking mouse was seen in this room, and scurried underneath those same curtains you've just come out of. Is that true? Did you see him there?"

Duchess must have shaken her head because the next thing Umbridge said was. "No?" Jerry couldn't help but notice that there was disappointment in her voice.

"Well, it doesn't matter" said Umbridge. "We've caught Potter and that's what's more important. Stand up, Mr. Potter. You are coming with us to meet the minister. He's so looking forward to having you expelled for creating this club."

There came the sound of a grunt as someone (most likely Goyle), lifted Harry off the floor. Then there came the sound of footsteps as Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad left the room. Tom and Jerry burst out from the curtains as soon as they felt it was safe to do so. Duchess was sitting on the floor with a sad expression.

"Thanks, Duchess" said Jerry. He whipped out his wand and turned to Tom. "Come on, Tom. We gotta get after them!"

"You can't" said Duchess. "They'll see you, you'll be thrown out of Hogwarts for good."

"But Duchess, we're Harry's protectors!" said Tom. "It's our duty to get him out of situations like this!"

Duchess shook her head. "It's too late, Tom. They've caught him, he'll be expelled. Possibly he'll be sent to Azkaban as well. I'm so sorry." Tom and Jerry looked down at the floor resignedly.

"So, I guess there's nothing more we can do for Harry" sighed Tom morosely.

"Yes there is, Thomas" came Dumbledore's voice out of nowhere. With a loud bang and a burst of blinding red light, he appeared in the Room of Requirement with Fawkes perched on his shoulder.

"Dumbledore?" gasped Jerry.

"Harry is not going to be expelled" said Dumbledore. "As far as the Ministry is concerned, I am the creator of the aptly named Dumbledore's Army."

"Why?" asked Tom.

"Because I told them I was" replied Dumbledore. "Unfortunately, that also means that now the Ministry is after me. Fudge will probably have a cell reserved for me in Azkaban before the day is out. So that means I'm going to have to be away from school for a while. In the meantime I need both of you to keep an extra close watch on Harry. I suspect Fudge will soon have his favourite spy appointed as my replacement, and mark my words, she will do everything in her power to bring pain and misery to Harry. To all of the students of Hogwarts."

"Umbridge as headteacher?" cried Jerry in shock. "That can't happen!"

"Sadly it can" said Dumbledore. "My escape from the Minister and his aurors in my office will only make him more of a megalomaniac where Hogwarts is concerned. He will surely tighten his grip on the school. Which is why you two must see to it that Harry gets through this year without punishment from the Ministry. He is the only one who can prevent Voldemort, but the Ministry has the power to lock him away, thereby unwittingly handing the wizarding world to the Dark Lord on a plate. Can I trust you to protect him as you have always tried your best to?"

"Yes, Dumbeldore. You can" said Tom and Jery simultaneously.

"Good" said Dumbeldore. "Very good."

Fawkes flapped his wings, the loud bang and flash of light came and went again, and then Dumbledore was gone.

A Semi-Fortunate Event

Tom peeked around the door of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom for the fifth time. Harry stood crouched by the fireplace with Jerry.

Dumbledore had been right when he had predicted that Fudge would have Umbridge become headmistress of Hogwarts. Ever since then she had become more oppressive and cruel to the rest of Hogwarts' inhabitants, to a point Tom had previously thought unreachable in a sentient being. She had summoned ministry officials to arrest Hagrid simply for being a half-giant. Professor McGonagall had been hit by five stunning spells while trying to help him. So she had had to be sent off to St. Mungos Hospital, while Hagrid had been sent off the school grounds altogether. It seemed that every adult that could possibly help keep Umbridge of Harry's back was now gone.

To make matters worse, Harry had recently started having visions of Sirius being tortured by Voldemort at the Ministry. Hermione had warned him to ignore them, insisting they were a trap sent by Voldemort, who apparently had some sort of psychic connection with Harry. But just to make sure, they had gone to the only available fireplace, and were now trying to contact Sirius at number 12, Grimmauld Place. Unfortunately the only spare fireplace happened to be in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, which as everyone in Hogwarts knew, now served as Umbridge's office. Each time he looked around the door, Tom had a horrible feeling he would see her waddling down the hallway towards him.

"Has Sirius answered yet?" he whispered as he brought himself completely back into the room.

"No" replied Jerry, also in a whisper. "But we've got Kreacher on the line. He'll tell us where Sirius is now."

"Kreacher, where is Sirius?" asked Harry.

"Master is not here, Harry Potter" replied Kreacher coldly.

"Is he in the Deparment of Mysteries?"

"Master will not come back from the Department of Mysteries" said Kreacher. And with a pop, his face disappeared from the fireplace.

At that moment, Tom screamed and fell to the floor with a clunk. Jerry and Harry turned to see Umbridge standing in the doorway, Tom lay at her feet, stunned.

"You!" bellowed Jerry. He took out his wand and charged towards Umbridge.

"Duchess!" barked the witch. Seconds later, Jerry was plucked off the floor and found himself wriggling about as Duchess held him by the scruff of his neck. Meanwhile, Umbridge picked up Harry and forced him into a chair. Jerry glared up at Duchess.

"Whose side are you on?" he snarled as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle came into the room, dragging Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ginny with them.

"We caught this lot outside, Professor" said Malfoy.

"Very good" said Umbridge dismissively. "Now tell me what you were doing in my office, Potter?"

"Getting my Firebolt"

"Liar!" shouted Umbridge. "You had your head in my fireplace. You must have been trying to contact someone. Who was it Potter, was it Dumbledore, the half-breed Hagrid. Tell me!"

"Sorry, he's not taking requests from you, Toad Face" said Jerry.

"Silence, filthy vermin!" shrieked Umbridge. She pointed with her wand at a particularly prominent vein on Harry's neck. "Duchess, kill the mouse and then hold your claws over this vein. We'll see if a cat's claws near your throat doesn't make you speak, Potter."

Jerry fell to the desk as Duchess let go of him. As he righted himself, he looked up at Duchess, who was facing her owner. Then she did something that surprised almost everyone in the room. She shook her head.

"What?" screamed Umbridge. "Duchess, I am your mistress and you will obey me. Put your claws at Potter's vein, now!"

Once again Duchess shook her head. Then she made a sound that to everyone else sounded like meowing, but to Jerry, it sounded like this:

"No. I've had enough of doing your dirty work, Mistress. You may be a sadistic sociopath who enjoys tormenting innocent people, but I am not. And I refuse to become a monster like you. I won't put my claws anywhere near Potter's neck."

"How dare you meow at me in that defiant way!" bellowed Umbridge. "Crucio!"

Duchess yowled in agony and her body began to writhe about in unnatural positions. The whole time Umbridge kept her wand pointed at her. Jerry knew what this was, this was the Cruciatus curse, the torture curse.

At last it stopped. Umbridge turned her wand back to Harry, Jerry ran up to Duchess who lay spread eagled and panting on the desk.

"Would a little bit of that loosen your tongue, Potter?" said Umbridge.

"Professor, no!" cried Hermione. "The Cruciatus curse, that's illegal. The Minister wouldn't want you to use an illegal spell on a student."

"To hell with the Minister!" snarled Umbridge. There was no false sweetness in her voice now, she spoke with undisguised hostility. "Useless, huffing old pumpkin with a brain made of curdled cheese. This country went to the dogs when that was made Minister. Besides, I shall be allowed to perform the Cruciatus curse and any other unforgivable curses to my heart's content when the Dark Lord claims the Ministry for himself."

Everyone except the Slytherins gasped in horror.

"You mean...you actually want Voldemort to take over the world?" cried Jerry.

"Of course I do" replied Umbridge. "In the world he will no doubt create, I can be myself at last. Much like the dementors I sent after you last summer, Potter. They have joined the Dark Lord because it is in their best interests, and so will I. When the Dark Lord takes over, the real Dolores Umbridge will also arise."

"You're sick!" spat Harry.

"And you will be far more than sick if you do not tell me who you were talking to in the fireplace, Potter" said Umbridge. "Cruc-

"No, wait!" shouted Hermione. Umbridge lowered her wand and looked at her.

"What is it, Miss Granger?"

"Harry was trying to talk to Dumbledore" said Hermione. "To tell him about the progress of this weapon we are making for him."

"A weapon?"

"Yes"

"Well where is it then?"

"It's in...it's in..."

"Spit it out, or I'll use the Cruciatus curse on you too!"

"It's in the Forbidden Forest" Hermione blurted out.

What was she talking about? There was no weapon hidden in the forbidden forest to Jerry's knowledge, and if there was he certainly hadn't heard anything about it.

Umbridge apparently, bought this lie. She pointed her wand at Hermione.

"Very well, Miss Granger. Lead me to this weapon. Potter, you'll come with me to see to it that your friend here does not try anything rash against me." At this point, she stalked up to Hermione and snarled loud enough for everyone to hear "If you cause me any further trouble, Miss Granger, I shall use the Cruciatus curse on Potter so many times that you will fall to your knees and grovel at my feet and beg me to show mercy to him. Before I cast the killing curse on both of you! That's right, don't think I have any qualms about getting rid of pests to the Ministry like yourself."

She turned around and hoisted Harry up from his current position, before shoving him in front of Hermione and poking him in the small of the back with her wand. Malfoy stepped forward.

"You may need protection, Professor" he advised.

"Then the last thing she wants is you" said Jerry.

"How dare you! You revolting little, mudblood-mixing mouse!" Malfoy snarled back. He took out his wand and stormed towards Jerry.

"Draco, no!" barked Umbridge. She flicked her wand twice at Jerry and about a second later, the mouse was enveloped in a magical, levitating sphere.

"I need you to stay here and guard these morons" said Umbridge, nodding at the DA and Tom, Jerry and Duchess. "I shall be back as soon as I have dealt with this weapon to take care of them. All of them!" she added hastily, staring at Jerry in his magical, floating prison. And then, without another word, she poked Harry in the back and then all three of them, Harry, Hermione and Umbridge were all gone from the classroom. Malfoy stalked off to rejoin the rest of the Inquisitorial Squad at the back of the room.

Below him, Jerry could hear a low groaning. Looking down, he saw that it was Tom struggling to rise to his feet. Duchess dragged herself to the edge of the table and looked down at him

"Why did you do that?" said Tom to Duchess. "You told me you could never stand up to your mistress" Fo

"You inspired me to" said Duchess in a weak voice. "Your bravery, and the way that you weren't afraid to disobey her. I've spent my whole life ever since I was a kitten being kicked around and bullied by her, and being made to do her dirty work for her. And watching you be brave in the face of her, it made me realise that enough was enough. That's why I stood up to her."

"If you hated her so much to begin with, why did you go along with what she was doing? Why were you so mean to me and Jerry?"

"That was my way of staying out of trouble. I figured that if I did the sort of things my mistress would do, then she wouldn't punish me, I hoped she might even reward me. Actually she never gave me anything in return, just honeyed words that didn't mean anything. Tom, I'm so sorry."

"So, does that mean that actually, you liked all of those things I tried to do for you?"

"Well, apart from the love potion in my water, yes. Tom, if we get out of this, I'd like to be with you."

"You would?" said Tom. "What about Jerry? You know he doesn't really like you much after the way you acted."

"I can understand that" said Duchess. "But I'd happily put up with Jerry for you, Tom."

"Oi, stop all that meowing over there!" grunted Crabbe through a moutful of something. Jerry and Duchess both looked behind them to see Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle stuffing their faces with orange sweets. A wicked smile appeared on Jerry's face and he sat back in preparation for what he knew would come next.

Halfway through what must have been his seventh sweet, Goyle suddenly and abruptly stopped chewing, and an alarmed look appeared in his eyes. The same thing happened to Crabbe and Malfoy seconds later. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Crabbe opened his mouth and a waterfall of vomit cascaded down his robes and on to the floor. Malfoy started retching and then doubled over to be sick. Goyle retched several times, each time expelling vomit. Finally, all three Slytherins staggered over to the door and left the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, leaving behind a trail of sick as they did so.

Duchess looked up at Jerry, her facial expression one of disgust at what she had just seen.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Puking Pastilles" said Jerry.

With the Inquisitorial Squad out of the way, the DA headed towards the animals. Luna pointed her wand at the sphere Umbridge had imprisoned Jerry in and with a simple flick, it was gone. Jerry dropped to the desk, ran to the edge of it and leapt up on to Luna's shoulder.

"Thanks, Lovegood."

Meanwhile, Neville was holding Tom upright while Ron took out a chocolate frog from his pocket and gently inserted it into Tom's open mouth. Slowly, Tom chewed the proffered frog, and in a few minutes, he was back on his own two feet.

"Think you can walk properly, Tom?" said Ron.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll make it" said Tom as Ginny fed another chocolate frog to Duchess. Soon, she two was rising to her feet.

"Ok, then" said Ginny. "We need to get down to the forest and help out Harry and Hermione. Let's go."

Everyone in the room went through the door and headed down the corridor in the direction of the exit, except for Duchess who followed the trail of vomit in the other direction.

'Aren't you coming with us, Duchess?" asked Tom.

"I'll stay here and make sure the Inquisitorial Squad doesn't come after you" said Duchess. "Go quickly now, and good luck in whatever it is you have to do."

Ten minutes later, Tom, Jerry and the DA found themselves walking down the hill through the Forbidden Forest, following the footsteps left by Harry, Hermione and Umbridge. Suddenly to their left there came a loud, high pitched scream. Jerry's ears pricked up immediately at the sound of it. The last time he had heard a scream like that, it had been when he had turned Umbridge bald. He leapt down from Luna's shoulder and scurried over to Tom, who was also looking in the direction of the scream. Jerry leapt on Tom's shoulder and as he peered through the trees, he saw a sight that he would cherish forever.

Not that far away was a small gang of centaurs gallopping away through the trees. Being dragged along the ground by two of them was none other than Umbridge herself.

"What are you doing? Unhand me at once, you filty beasts! I am senior undersecretary, Dolores Jane Umbridge, and I demand that you release me this minute! Where are you taking me? Nooooooo!"

The centaurs took no notice of her hysterical screams and within a few minutes, they had all disappeared into the darkness of the forest. Although Umbridge's cries could still be heard for several long minutes afterwards.

"Well, I guess there really is still such a thing as justice in this messed up world" said Jerry as he and Tom followed the DA deeper into the heart of the Forbidden Forest.


	20. Sad Goodbyes

"Yep, I really felt good when old Toad Face got her comeuppance" said Old Jerry as he fondly stroked an article pasted in the photo album entitled '_Dolores Umbridge removed from Hogwarts'. _It showed a photo of Umbridge storming out of Hogwarts with a suitcase and an infuriated, indignant look on her face.

"Yeah, if only that was the only big thing that happened that night" said Old Tom.

"What do you mean?" asked Jerry.

"That was also the night we lost Sirius" said Tom, looking sadly down at the album.

"Oh God, Sirius." cried Jerry, bursting into tears. "Oh, why did you have to remind me about that?"

* * *

All hell was breaking loose in the Department of Mysteries.

When Tom, Jerry and the DA had met Harry and Hermione in the forest, the next thing they knew was they were off to the Ministry of Magic to rescue Sirius, on the backs of invisible horses that apparently, only Harry and Luna could see. Now they had arrived at the Deparment of Mysteries, they had not found Sirius or Voldemort, but they had found a mysterious glass sphere on which a prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort's fates was written. At that moment, Voldemort's Death Eaters had pounced. It turned that Harry's vision has been bait to lure him to the Ministry and get the prophecy, as prophecies could only be retrieved by those about whom they were written, and Voldemort was not ready to appear in public yet.

Now the Death Eaters were here to take the prophecy back to their master. Naturally a fight had ensued, which had moved from the Hall of Prophecy full of shelves to a strange archway with filmy layer in the middle.

Tom and Jerry were currently separated from Harry, who was battling none other than Draco Malfoy's father, Lucius Malfoy, who aside from a wand also had his cane to use as a weapon. Tom and Jerry would have run over to help Harry were they not duelling another Death Eater, a slightly insane witch by the name of Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Stupefy!" cried Jerry as he cast his spell.

"Protego!" screamed Bellatrix in response. Jerry's spell bounced off the shield charm and sailed away through the air. It seemed that no matter what sort of spell either Tom or Jerry had cast at Bellatrix, she had always blocked it or gotten out of the way.

"Expelliarmus". Jerry's wand flew out of his hand to the other side of the room. Bellatrix pointed her wand at him a third time, an evil, sadistic leer appeared on her face.

"Avada Kedavra!" she screeched. Jerry would certainly have been killed there and then had Tom not had a very good idea.

"Accio Mouse" he shouted. Jerry was pulled out of the way of Bellatrix's curse and flew straight into Tom's hand. From the other side of the shield charm, Bellatrix looked at Tom with a look that could almost have been described as admiration.

"Nice wandwork, for a cat" she admitted. "Serpensortia!"

With a loud bang a cobra shot from her wand and collided head on with Tom and Jerry. As he was knocked backwards, Tom felt the snake's coils begin to wrap themselves around him. Soon his legs had disappeared under an undulating mass of scales and muscle. His torso would undoutedly follow soon.

Jerry however had been knocked to the side by the snake and so was not being constricted by it. Now he had retrieved his wand and was rushing to aid his friend.

"Avada Kedavra!" screamed Bellatrix. Taking a running jump, Jerry only just missed her killing curse. He leapt on to the snake and wrapped his arms and legs around it. Not knowing any spell he could use to stop it, he resorted to jabbing it in the neck with his wand. The cobra hissed in fury and thrased about wildly, but it did not loosen its grip on Tom. Nor did Jerry loosen his grip on it, until-

"Legsloosia!" Bellatrix's Jelly-Leg jinx hit Jerry. Instantly his legs flopped uselessly as if they were filled with cake mix. Seeing its chance, the snake threw Jerry off its neck. He landed just by its coils. It reared back its head before bringing it down hard on Jerry.

"No!" cried Tom in shock as the snake's fangs pierced Jerry. He lay there, breathing rapidly and labouriously, aside from that his small body was very still.

"Expelliarmus!" shouted Lucius Malfoy, and there was a clatter as Harry's wand flew out of his hand and on to the floor. Tom diverted his attention to his human friend, ignoring the fact that the snake had resumed wrapping itself around his torso.

"The game's up, Potter. Did you actually think that children like you and your friends could defeat the Dark Lord's finest Death Eaters." He gestured to himself and the other Death Eaters. This was Draco's father alright. He gestured to the prophecy, which Harry held in his hand.

"I'll make his simple, Potter. Give me the prophecy, or watch as we kill your friends, one by one" snarled Lucius. Tom looked around the room. Indeed all of Harry's friends were now at the mercy of the Death Eaters. Avery, Dolohov, Mulciber and McNair had captured Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna respectively, and somehow, Bellatrix had managed to get hold of Neville. Jerry was dying of envenomation and he, Tom was about to be crushed to death by a snake that usually poisoned its victims. There really was no choice for Harry.

"Don't gib it do him, Arry" said Neville, his severe nosebleed affecting his speech. But Harry did not listen. Slowly and with considerable reluctance, he began to hand over the prophecy to Lucius' outstretched hand.

"Hurry up, Potter. We haven't got all night!"

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and Sirius apparated into the room next to Harry.

"Get away from my godson, Malfoy" he said contemptously. "Stupefy!" he bellowed, and Lucius Malfoy was thrown across the room. The other Death Eaters threw their hostages on to the floor, took out their wands and charged, only to be faced with Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody and various other members of the Order of the Phoenix. As both groups opened fire on one another, Lupin turned to Tom, who was now almost completely wrapped up in the snake's coils.

"Epera Evanesca!" The cobra turned to ashes the moment the spell hit it, Tom was free. He scooped up Jerry and ran over to a safe part of the room with Hermione.

"OK, little buddy" said Tom quickly. "I'm gonna go help Harry and Sirius now, but you're gonna be ok, won't he Hermione?"

"Hopefully" said Hermione. Tom turned and ran back into the fray. Ducking and dodging various spells fired by the Death Eaters, he soon joined Harry and Sirius.

"Hello, Tom. Nice to see you and Harry are still close" said Sirius as he stunned Dolohov.

"See you've got good wandwork, Sirius" Tom complimented him. "Hope you can use it to end this fight. It's like being in Saving Private Ryan."

"Like being in what?"

"Muggle film" said Tom, before he used 'Incarcerous' on another Death Eater.

Through the joint efforts of the DA and the Order of the Phoenix, the Death Eaters were soon all lying stunned or trussed up like turkeys on the floor. Except for-

"Avada Kedavra!" screeched Bellatrix, the only Death Eater still standing.

"Sirius, look out!" cried Tom. But his warning came too late. Bellatrix's spell hit Sirius sqaure in the chest. A vacant look appeared on his face, and one of shock and horror appeared on the faces of Harry, Tom and all the members of the DA and Order of the Phoenix. Sirius took a few steps backwards, his face growing more and more pale. And then finally, he tumbled backwards into the archway and his body vanished without a trace.

Tom looked at Harry and saw that tears were beginning to trickle out of the corners of his green eyes.

"No, no" he stammered in a voice that broke Tom's heart. He heard Bellatrix-that shameless murdereress-cackling wildly, taking advantage of the shock of everyone else present to make her escape into another room. Harry turned in her direction and began to give chase. Tom grabbed his arm.

"Harry, you can't-

"Get off me, Tom!" snarled Harry. He shook Tom off and tore after Bellatrix, tears streaming down his face. Tom followed him. He could understand why Harry would want to deal with his godfather's killer personally, but as his protector, Tom could not let him face her alone.

As he neared the door that Bellatrix and Harry had gone through, Dumbledore apparated right into his path.

"Sir, Sirius is dead. Harry's gone after Bellatrix Lestrange. I need to-

"I will go after him this time, Thomas" said Dumbledore. "Voldemort himself is on his way here and you will be no match for him. I must be the one to protect Harry this time."

And he went into the Ministry Atrium without another word. Tom felt a cold sense of dread rush over him. Voldemort was coming, no doubt to finish Harry off himself, or get the prophecy. He'd never get the prophecy now, Harry had tossed it to Neville who had dropped it and smashed it. But why would the Dark Lord care about that when he could just as easily kill Harry, the thing he had waited so long to do?

As Tom went back over to Jerry, he hoped that Voldemort was as scared of Dumbledore as everyone said he was.

* * *

A few days later, Tom walked down the corridor to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Thankfully, Dumbledore had been able to prevent Voldemort from killing Harry long enough for Cornelius Fudge and several Ministry officials to arrive and see the Dark Lord for themselves. As a result, Fudge had been forced to admit Voldemort's return and two days later, the loss of his position of Minister for Magic. Now the entire wizarding world knew that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back in town and dark days were predicted ahead.

Jerry, and all of the DA members who had been present at the Department of Mysteries had all been admitted to hospital. Luckily they were expected to make a complete recovery.

As for Harry, for now he was inconsolable over Sirius' death, for which he blamed himself. Dumbledore had told Tom that he had had a talk with Harry about Sirius and the prophecy, and that he felt that it was best that for now, Harry was left alone.

So Tom was on his way to see Duchess. What with the hecticness of the past few days, he had not yet had the chance to see her since he got back from the Ministry. As he entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, he saw her sitting on Umbridge's desk and looking down at her paws.

"Hey Duchess" said Tom as he entered the room. "I just thought I should come say hi. How's your mistress?"

"She's fine, sadly" said Duchess without looking up at Tom. "Dumbledore went into the forest the other night and rescued her. By the way, did you see the Daily Prophet this morning?"

She pushed a newspaper off the table, it landed at Tom's feet. As he picked it up, he saw the article posted under the one entitled _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned._ The article Duchess was most likely talking about was the one entitiled _Dolores Umbridge to be removed from Hogwarts._

_'With the unexpected return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Cornelius Fudge has been replaced as Minister for Magic by Rufus Scrimegeour. Mr. Scrimegour's first act has been to reinstate Albus Dumbeldore as headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In light of this, Dolores Jane Umbridge is to be removed from her post as headmistress of the school. She is to be kept under Ministry monitoring for the next few months as she is under suspiscion of wanting to consort with the Dark Lord for selfish gains._

"But this is good news" said Tom joyously. "Umbridge is being kicked out of Hogwarts at last and you're free!"

Duchess leapt down from the table and looked up at Tom, tears welling in her eyes.

"No, Tom. I'm not free. I never will be free of my mistress. She may not love me but she wants to take me around with her because it makes her look good to have a white cat. She's just gone to get a few supplies, but when she comes back, she'll be taking me away with her back to the Ministry."

"But...but can't you escape, run away, be free?"

"It wouldn't do any good" said Duchess. "She'd find me, use that terrible torture curse on me. She's done it to me so many times before. I have to go with her, Tom. I'm sorry."

"Duchess, I...you...I can't let you go like this" stammered Tom. "I mean, ever since I saw you I...I can't imagine life at Hogwarts without you!"

"Tom, you have a good life here at Hogwarts. You have friends who care about you, an owner who loves you, and Jerry. Jerry would do anything for you, Tom, I know he would. You don't need me here."

"Will I ever see you again?" asked Tom.

"I don't know" whispered Duchess in reply. From outside there came the sound of footsteps, the door opened to reveal Umbridge with a suitcase.

"Duchess!" she barked. "Get away from that filthy animal and come here this instant. We're leaving."

Duchess trotted over to her owner and leapt up on to her shoulders. With one last disdainful look at Tom, Umbridge turned and waddled away down the corridor. Tom dared not follow her, but he stood in the doorway of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, never taking his eyes off Duchess.

"Goodbye, Tom" mewed Duchess. "I'll miss you!" she added as Umbridge rounded the corner and was gone from sight.

"Goodbye" whispered Tom in a voice choked with tears.

* * *

**And so ends the Order of the Phoenix story arc. More magical action and shocking happenings happening next in the one and only Half-Blood Prince related chapter. Coming soon to Fanfiction!**


	21. Dark Day of Dumbledore's Death

**Here it is fans, the Half Blood Prince related chapter I promised. Sorry it took so long.**

**BTW, I don't own the note that Regulus Black wrote, J.K. Rowling does. I just thought it would be appropriate to present it in my fanfiction the way it was presented in the book. 'Harry Potter' and 'Tom and Jerry' belong to J.K. Rowling and Hanna Barbera, respectively. I own nothing.**

* * *

"I can't believe that so many people we knew are now dead" said Jerry in a tearful voice as he flicked through the photo album. "Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks...

"Dumbledore" added Tom, a few tears trickling down his face. At the mention of Dumbledore's name, Jerry burst into louder, more hysterical tears.

"Oh Dumbledore!" he howled. "I thought I'd gotten over that!"

"There, there" said Tom as he used his index finger to pat his friend on the back. "It was all for a good cause, it would have been worse for him if he hadn't died when he did"

"I know, I know" sniffed Jerry. "But you never forget it when you actually see someone die for yourself."

* * *

Tom and Jerry were hurrying up the stairs to the astronomy tower.

Things had been getting steadily worse since Voldemort's return had been made public. First of all, the dementors had left Azkaban and sided with the Dark Lord (which was not in the least bit surprising to Tom and Jerry). Then, last July, Mr. Ollivander had been reported missing and Death Eaters had brought down two bridges in London, killing hundreds of Muggles. A few months later, Harry's fellow quidditch player, Katie Bell, had been almost died from wearing a cursed necklace and then in March, Ron had drunk poisoned mead and had only just been saved by Harry with a bezoar. In addition to all of this, Draco Malfoy had been acting very strangely and there were rumours going around that he had been indoctrinated into the Death Eaters.

Right now though, Tom and Jerry were being summoned to the astronomy tower by Dumbledore on urgent business. As the reached the topmost point, where Dumbledore had asked them to meet him, they saw the headmaster of Hogwarts looking out across the grounds with his back to them. Harry stood by his side holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"Sir, Tom and Jerry are here." Dumbledore turned to face the newcomers.

"Thomas, Jerry, there is something very important I must say to you" he said gravely. "Harry and I have just discovered the key to Voldemort's undoing."

"You have? But that's great news!" cried Jerry.

"Let me finish, Jerry" said Dumbledore. "Years ago, Voldemort split his soul into seven pieces, and hid each one in an item of importance to him. These items are now known as horcruxes."

"Why would he split his soul into seven pieces?" asked Tom.

"Because he is terrified of death, Thomas" said Dumbledore. "It is one of the only things he truly fears. The splitting of his soul means that even if his body is destroyed, he will not die because parts of his soul are still intact. That is how he escaped death after his original body was destroyed, when he tried to kill Harry as a baby. If we destroy all of these horcruxes, then his own destruction will be final."

"But why have you asked us to come here?"

"Because Harry and I must journey to the place where one of his horcruxes is hidden. And I may not come back alive." "But whatever happens," he added, seeing Tom and Jerry's shocked faces, "I need you two to watch over Hogwarts while Harry and I are gone. As I said in my speech at the start of the year, every day, every hour, dark forces are attempting to penetrate the school. And for much of tonight at the very least, I will not be here to stop them. That is why I need you."

"But how can we watch over all of Hogwarts?" said Tom. Harry went up to him and handed him the paper in his hand. He took out his wand and placed its tip on the paper.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." As the blank piece of paper began to reveal the grounds and castle of Hogwarts, Tom understood exactly how he and Jerry were meant to watch over the school.

"The Marauder's Map" he said understandingly.

"Precisely" said Dumbledore. He turned to Harry. "Are you ready to depart, Harry?"

"Yes, sir." Harry went up to Dumbledore and took him by the hand. Before they apparated out, he turned to Tom and Jerry.

"Good luck, you two."

"Same to you" said Tom and Jerry in unision. And then Harry and Dumbledore were gone.

* * *

Hours had passed since Harry and Dumbledore had apparated out of Hogwarts. Jerry paced up and down anxiously, while Tom studied the map for any signs of suspicous going-ons.

"How much longer?" moaned Jerry for the umpteenth time. "I can't stand this tension no more!"

"Well here's something to take your mind of Harry and Dumbledore for a while" said Tom. "Come have a look at this."

Jerry went over to the map, Tom was pointing at the Room of Requirement, Draco Malfoy's name was there, he was alone.

"What could that creep want in the Room of Requirement?" Jerry wondered out loud. Then, both his and Tom's jaws dropped as a second name appeared in the room of requirement: Bellatrix Lestrange.

"What's she doing here?" screamed Jerry. Bellatrix's name was followed by several others: Thorffinn Rowle, Yaxley, Amycus Carrow, Alecto Carrow, and someone called Fenrir Greyback.

Tom wasted no time. He pointed his wand at himself.

"Sonoros."

Then he crouched down by the stairwell leading to the astronomy tower and, in his new amplified voice, said the following:

"Students of Hogwarts, Members of Dumbledore's army, Death Eaters are in the school. They're coming out of the Room of Requirement. Fight them, fend them off, do what you must to protect our school!"

At that moment, there was bang and Harry and Dumbledore were back at the astronomy tower, Dumbledore looked very weak. While Tom cast the 'quietus' charm on himself, Jerry explained the situation to Harry.

"H.P, there are Death Eaters in Hogwarts. They came in through the Room of Requirement, I don't know how. Tom's let the whole school know, so Ron, Hermione and the others should be taking care of it."

"Very good" wheezed Dumbledore. '"Now, get under the invisibility cloak, all of you!"

Harry tossed the invisibility cloak on to Tom and Jerry, but did not get under himself, instead turning to Dumbledore.

"Harry, get under as well. Go and wake Severus and bring him here. I shall wait."

"But sir-"began Harry.

"You swore to obey me when we set out on our mission" said Dumbledore, his voice a wheezy croak. "Get under the cloak and go, all of you!"

Reluctantly Harry put the cloak on and he, Tom and Jerry began to make their way to the staircase. But as they neared it they heard footsteps, and panting, someone was coming. Suddenly, Harry became all rigid and fell to the floor, almost pulling the invisibility cloak off Tom and Jerry. Turning around, they saw Dumbledore pointing his wand in their direction and knew that for some reason, he had immobolised him. Then another spell was cast, but this time the caster spoke it.

"Expelliarmus." Dumbledore's wand flew out of his hand and out of the Astronomy tower window. Tom and Jerry turned back to see who had disarmed him.

It was Malfoy.

"Good evening, Draco" said Dumbledore calmly.

"Who else is here?" demanded Malfoy. "I heard you talking to someone."

"There's nobody here but you and me" replied Dumbledore. "I often talk to myself. Though some may call it a sign of madness, I find it very useful for clearing the mind. But Draco, might I ask, are you alone?"

For a while, Malfoy was silent, then he spoke.

"No, I've got Death Eaters with me tonight. I smuggled them into your school, and you never realised, you stupid old man" he spat. Tom and Jerry glared at Malfoy from underneath the invisibility cloak. He never could resist boasting and showing off.

"Ingenious" said Dumbledore. "But if that is so then why have you come alone? Where is your Praetorian guard?"

"They're fighting downstairs" said Malfoy. "That Dumbledore's Army bunch are putting up a fight. But I've got a job to do, that's why I came on ahead."

"Well then, if you have a job to do you'd best get on and do it, hadn't you?" said Dumbledore. "I have no wand on me."

Malfoy pointed his own wand at Dumbledore. Tom and Jerry couldn't help but notice that his arm was shaking a lot.

"Draco, Draco" said Dumbledore, as if he were comforting a frightened child. "You are no killer."

"You don't know that!" said Malfoy. "You don't know half of the things I've done this year."

"Oh but I do, Draco" said Dumbledore, with a hint of slyness in his voice. Tom turned to see Dumbledore putting up his fingers one by one as he spoke. "Giving a cursed necklace to Katie Bell and hoping that she would in turn pass it on to me. Sending me the bottle of poisoned mead that almost killed Ronald Weasley. Forgive me for saying this, Draco, but these have been such weak and feeble assasination attempts that I can't help but wonder if your heart has actually been in them."

"It has been in them! The Dark Lord trusts me, I was chosen for this!" said Malfoy pathetically. He rolled up his left sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark tattooed on his inner forearm.

So Malfoy was the one behind the necklace and the poison, and now Tom and Jerry knew why. Voldemort had planted an agent at Hogwarts.

"Well then" said Dumbledore in the calm tone he had been using ever since Malfoy had disarmed him. "If the Dark Lord has indeed chosen you to kill me, you'd best do it, and fulfill his wishes. Or would you prefer to wait for your fellow Death Eaters?"

Malfoy did not rely, but his wand bearing arm began to shake even more vigorously.

"Since the others are taking their time, why don't we clarify a few issues?" said Dumbledore. "How exactly did you manage to smuggle Death Eaters into this school, Draco?"

"The vanishing cabinet in the Room of Requirment" replied Malfoy. "It was broken, but I've been mending it all year, and tonight I finally did it."

"But that still doesn't explain how Death Eater's got into Hogwarts. Unless of course...there is another cabinet of its make elsewhere."

Malfoy nodded."The cabinet in Borgin and Burkes. It forms a passage with the one in the Room of Requirement."

"I see" said Dumbledore. A loud bang sounded from below and someone screamed.

"I sense your friends are getting closer, perhaps it would be best now to discuss the options available to you, Draco."

"Options! I haven't got any options, I haven't got any choice. I need to kill you, otherwise..." he stopped for a moment and to Tom and Jerry, he looked like he was fighting the urge to cry. "Otherwise he's gonna kill me, kill my whole family. That's why I need to kill you."

In all the time they had known Malfoy, Tom and Jerry had felt only contempt and disdain for him. But now they felt something else for him, pity. Pity for what he was being forced to do by Voldemort. They knew that Malfoy had never liked Dumbledore, but his increasingly paling face and the way in which his wand arm was shaking showed that he didn't really want to kill him. He was just doing what he had to to save his own life, and that of his family.

At that moment, the rest of the Death Eaters appeared in the room, led by Bellatrix. Her hair was all askew and she was panting a little. She had clearly been in the wars. But now, seeing Dumbeldore cornered, a wicked smile appeared on her face.

"Well, well, well" she sneered. "I never thought I'd see this. Dumbledore wandless, friendless, and alone." She strode up to Malfoy, followed by the other Death Eaters. "Well done, Draco, nephew." she whispered.

"Good evening, Bellatrix, Amycus, Alecto, Rowle, and Fenrir too I see" said Dumbledore, as if he were addressing old friends.

"Dumbledore" snarled the man who had been addressed as Fenrir. He had an extarordinary amount of hair on both his face and his arms, as well as brown pointed teeth and yellow, claw like nails. "Still as sickneningly polite as ever."

"And what about you, Fenrir? Still stationing yourself near children at the full moon so you can infect them with lycanthropy?" retorted Dumbledore.

"I can do that without being in my wolf form" said Fenrir. "And when Draco has killed you, I think I'll help myself to a few of the juicy Hogwarts kids you've got in this here school" he added, licking his lips. Tom and Jerry had to fight back the urge to vomit at the werewolf's savagery.

"Come on, Draco" said Bellatrix. "You have him here, at your mercy. You know the spell. Do it!" But Malfoy was silent.

"He doesn't have the stomach. He's Lucius' son alright" sneered a squat wizard.

"Shut up, Carrow!" snapped Bellatrix. "Do it, Draco, and win the Dark Lord's favour!"

But still Malfoy said and did nothing. His wand arm was shaking violently.

"This is a waste of time" snarled the werewolf. "Let me do it." He started towards Dumbledore.

"Oh, no you don't, Fenrir Greyback!" shouted Bellatrix. There was a loud bang and Greyback was thrown against the wall near the stairs.

"Come on, Draco. Do the deed" said a squat witch who looked strikingly like the squat wizard. "Or step aside so one of us...

"No!" came a new voice from the stairwell. Underneath the invisibility cloak, Tom and Jerry turned to see Snape enter the Astronomy Tower. At last, someone who could help had arrived. He held out his wand and strode up next to Draco and Bellatrix. Tom silently prayed that he was going to take the latter prisoner.

"Severus...Severus" said Dumbledore in the weakest voice that Tom and Jerry had ever heard him speak in. "Severus, please." Dumbledore was pleading.

"Avada Kedavra" said Snape quickly. The green spell shot out of his wand and hit Dumbledore right in the chest, almost too fast for Tom and Jerry to see. Dumbledore's body tumbled out of the Astronomy Tower window like a bundle of old laundry. While Bellatrix cackled wildly, Snape grabbed Malfoy by the arm.

"Out, out, quick. The Order will be here soon."

As the rest of the Death Eaters ran down the stairs, Bellatrix went over to the window and pointed her wand up at the sky.

"Mosmorde" she cried before bolting down the stairs after her companions. Tom and Jerry felt the cloak being pulled off them. Harry had regained the ability to move and was now running down the stairs as well. Jerry headed straight after him but Tom briefly went over to the window and looked up. To his horror, hovering above the Astronomy tower was the infamous Dark Mark, the sign that the Death Eaters used when they had killed someone, according to Hermione.

As Tom left the Astronomy tower, he heard the sounds of battle raging throughout the castle. Every now and then he passed a member of Dumbledore's Army who was attempting an attack on a Death Eater. Eventually he found Jerry duelling Bellatrix.

"Expelliarmus" shouted Bellatrix. Jerry's wand flew out of his hand.

"Not again" he cried. Bellatrix raised her wand purposefully.

"Leave him alone!" bellowed Tom. Bellatrix looked in his direction and smiled.

"Ah, another animal who thinks he can do magic for me to toy with."

"Confringius!" shouted Tom. There was a loud explosion and Bellatrix was sent flying along the corridor by the blasting charm. She landed on her back, as she picked herself up and looked daggers at Tom. She opened her mouth to say something, but then decided against it and ran. Tom looked down at Jerry.

"You ok, little buddy?"

Jerry did not give a proper answer. He looked up at Tom with a look of horror.

"B...b...behind you."

Tom turned around and almost screamed out loud at what he saw. Fenrir Greyback was standing behind him and licking his lips.

"A cat and a mouse" he slobbered. "Not as tasty as human kids, but good for a light snack." He reached out with one filthy paw towards Tom.

"No!" came a new voice from behind Greyback. All present turned and saw a large red haired man charging down the corridor towards Greyback. As the man came closer, Tom and Jerry recognised it as Ron's brother, Bill Weasley, who they had met earlier that year.

"Tom, Jerry, get after Harry. I'll hold off Greyback. Go, now!"

Tom and Jerry were reluctant to leave Bill to face something as savage and brutal as Greyback, but they had seen Snape kill Dumbledore, one of the most powerful wizards in history. What chance did Harry stand if he went up against him. So they ran down the corridor, resisting the urge to go back and help Bill fight Greyback.

As they exited the castle and entered the grounds, they saw at a distance, Harry and Snape battling it out. Worse still, Harry seemed to be losing, with Snape blocking every spell his opponent threw at him.

"Sectusempra!" shouted Harry, using a spell that neither Tom nor Jerry had ever heard of before.

"Protego" said Snape, blocking the spell. "Expelliarmus!" Tom and Jerry increased their pace, without a wand, Harry was as defenceless against Snape as Dumbledore was not ten minutes ago.

As it turned out, they needn't have hurried. From above their heads there came the flapping of wings. Looking up, they saw Buckbeak, the hippogriff they had last seen living with Sirius in a cave near Hogsmeade. He was heading in the same direction as they were, talons aimed at Snape. Folding in his wings, he sped ahead of them and collided head on with Snape, who tumbled backwards and rolled a little way. Buckbeak landed in front of Harry and screeched at Snape. The Potions Master picked himself up and ran for the gates, Buckbeak in hot pursuit. But the hippogriff's chase was futile. As Snape cleared the gates, he disappeared. Buckbeak took to the air and circled around looking for him but Tom and Jerry knew it was hopeless. Snape has disappareted and nobody knew where he had gone.

* * *

A few minutes later, Tom and Jerry were helping Hagrid escort Harry back to the castle. Hagrid had not believed Harry's story that Snape had killed Dumbledore, insisting that everything was alright and that Dumbledore had only sent Snape to chase after the Death Eaters. Tom and Jerry knew better than to offer such words to Harry. They knew that nothing anyone could say or do would make him feel better, and they wished that Hagrid would stop insisting that everything was fine.

As they neared the base of the Astronomy tower, they saw that a crowd had gathered. At the front of it was Professor McGonagall looking down at Dumbledore's body and dabbing her red eyes. Tom and Jerry could tell that she had been crying for a long time now, and was just dealing with the last of her tears.

But as McGonagall's tears ended, Harry's started. He knelt by the body of his headmaster and wept loudly. Ginny came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. But it did little to soften the universal feelings of shock, grief and despair that were felt by every Hogwarts student and staff member present. Even Hagrid had abandoned his optimism and was blubbering loudly into a frilly handkerchief. As for Tom and Jerry, they stared at their owner and at Dumbledore's body. They were both thinking the same thing: 'Why didn't we do something to stop it?'. Aside from shock, grief and despair, Tom and Jerry were both having to deal with guilt as their mental burden.

At last, Harry wiped his eyes, reached out and picked something attached to a chain off Dumbledore's body. Looking closely, Jerry saw it was a gold locket the size of a chicken's egg with a green S etched into it. As Harry fiddled about with it, it came open, there was a note inside. Harry held it up to his face for a few moments, then his tears resumed. Jerry, unable to stand by and watch his master suffer, went up to him .

"Harry, what's wrong?"

"A waste" wept Harry. "He drank that terrible potion, weakened himself, all for nothing. The whole thing was a waste" wept Harry. He handed Jerry the open locket. Jerry took it in his arms and read it the way one may read a particularly large and heavy book.

"To the Dark Lord" Jerry read out loud to himself. "I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more. R.A.B"

"What does R.A.B stand for?" asked Tom, who had read the note over Jerry's shoulder.

'Never mind that" said Jerry dejectedly. "The point is that this isn't the real horcrux. We're no closer to destroying You-Know-Who. Dumbledore made himself weak and died for nothing."

He let the fake locket slip to the floor and together with Tom and the rest of Hogwarts, cried long, mournful tears. But no one there cried louder than Harry Potter.


	22. The time they nearly saw Him

Nagini raised her head up to the level of the dining table at Malfoy Manor. Voldemort's cold, clammy fingers stroked the top of it gently as he surveyed his Death Eaters seated around the table. Above them in mid air circled the unconscious form of Charity Burbage.

A smile crept on to Voldemort's face. The meeting was going very well indeed. Ten minutes ago they had started off with possible opportunities to kill Harry Potter, and Snape had presented them with an excellent one already. Apparently the boy was going to be moved from the home of his muggle relatives on the night before his seventeenth birthday.

"Where will he be moved to, Severus?" Voldemort asked.

"To the home of one of the Order." Snape replied. "I'm told it's been given every form of magical protection known to wizarding kind. Once he's there, it would be impractical to try and take him."

"How will the Order transport him there?"

"I'm not sure at the moment. But given that the Order believes we have infiltrated the Ministry, I think it's safe to rule out any form of transport controlled or regulated by it. That of course includes apparition, portkeys and the floo network."

"Perfect. He'll have to move in the open. He'll be much easier to take then" said Voldemort.

At this, Bellatrix raised her hand, her excitement greatly contrasting the gloom and apathy of her sister, Narcissa, brother-in-law, Lucius, and nephew, Draco.

"Yes, Bellatrix" said Voldemort.

"My Lord, I would just like to volunteer myself for the task of disposing of Harry Potter."

Voldemort laughed mirthlessly.

"Your desire to kill and destroy amuses me, Bellatrix. However, I shall be the one to kill the boy. His continued existence is partially down to my own careless mistakes. But now I understand that which I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, and I shall."

"Yes of course, my Lord" said Bellatrix. "But would it be alright for me to dispose of his cat and mouse?"

"What cat and mouse?" said Voldemort. "I thought Potter only had an owl. In any case, what difference does it make to you whether or not Potter's animals live or die, Bellatrix."

"Because they are not an ordinary cat and mouse" said Bellatrix. "They're familiars. They can perform magic and have caused me a lot of irritation in the past on behalf of their master."

"She's telling the truth, my Lord" added Dolohov. "I saw them two years ago. They were fighting alongside Potter in the Department of Mysteries."

"And I have seen them too, my Lord" interjected Wormtail, who was standing at the sidelines. "In Potter's third year at Hogwarts they...

Voldemort stood up and raised his wand. There was a loud bang and the room fell silent.

"It matters not whether Harry Potter has made friends with an imaginary cat and mouse. I'd expect such childish make-believe stories from you, Wormtail. But from Bellatrix and Dolohov too? I can only imagine that someone has put you under a Confundus charm."

Suddenly Nagini, who up til now had been silent, opened her mouth and emitted a series of strangled hissing noises. For a few moments, she and Voldemort conversed in parseltongue. Then the latter addressed his Death Eaters in English.

"Your claims about this magic cat and mouse duo are apparently not entirely untrue. But it still makes no difference to my plans. We attack Potter on the thirtieth of July and that's final. If you see this cat and mouse, feel free to finish them off as you see fit. But I really don't care either way, as long as I kill Harry Potter that night."

And for the rest of the evening, there was no more talk of Harry Potter's magical cat and mouse.

* * *

"So remind me of the plan again?" said Tom to Harry.

It was the thirtieth of July at Number 4, Privet Drive. The Dursleys had left not an hour ago in order to go into hiding from the Death Eaters. Both Tom and Jerry had been glad to see the back of them, particularly since this would be the last time they ever saw them. Although they were pleased that Dudley had said a proper goodbye and acknowledged that he was grateful to Harry for saving him from the dementors.

Shortly afterwards, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, Fleur, Mr. Weasley, Moody, Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt and a man named Mundungus Fletcher had arrived. Then everyone apart from Tonks, Moody, Lupin and Bill had taken polyjuice potion containing Harry's hairs, so there were now six Harry Potter's in the Dursley's front room. Tom and Jerry, who were both rather confused by the whole thing, had managed to drag Harry into the next room to get some clarification.

"The plan is that the six ones of me next door all go out to a different location" Harry explained. "Moody reckons even if You-Know-Who doesn't come for me tonight, he'll still have a couple of other Death Eaters watching the house. So by having seven of me, they won't know which one is the real me."

"Well that sounds logical" said Tom.

"I don't care if it's logical!" cried Harry. "I still don't like it. There are six innocent people who could die tonight for me. I don't want that! If Voldemort has kills anyone tonight I-

"You'd rather it be you" Jerry cut him off. "Because that's where I see this sentence going, H.P. I know you're not comfortable with other people risking their lives for you and I understand that. But the fact is that if You-Know-Who doesn't kill them, he'll kill you instead. And believe me, everyone in that room would rather give their lives to save yours."

"So they have to die because You-Know-Who wants to kill me?"

"No. Nobody has to die! All I'm saying is that it's more important that you survive. You're the only one who can kill You-Know-Who, H.P, you know you are. And besides, there's nothing you can do for the next hour, they've all already transformed."

At this point the door opened and Moody entered.

"Everyone's ready Harry, you'd best get your skates on. You're with Hagrid."

Harry nodded and left the room, Tom and Jerry made to follow him.

"Just a minute, you two" said Moody. He closed the door behind him.

"What is it?" asked Jerry. "Are we with Harry for the journey?"

'Yes, you're both with Harry" said Moody. "But I need you both to stay hidden throughout the entire journey."

"Why?"

"Because although we can give the fake Potters clothes and stuffed owls, we can't give them fake versions of you two. We can't make dolls that fire spells at Death Eaters and polyjuice potion can only be used by humans. So if you two sit up with Harry in the open, the Death Eaters might realise you're with the real Harry. Plus, according to our sources, a lot of Death Eaters have already seen you, but You-Know-Who hasn't. So if none of them see you, they'll think Harry no longer has your protection, so they'll be unprepared for you should they attack him again in the future."

"Ok, I see your point" said Tom. "But where exactly are we going?"

"In your case, the Burrow" answered Moody as he left the room, Tom and Jerry followed close behind.

Out in front of the house, the seven Harrys were waiting with their travel companions. The Harrys that were actually Fleur and Hermione were riding on thestrals (which Tom and Jerry could now see having witnessed Sirius' death) with Bill and Kingsley, respectively. The rest of the present Weasley brothers had mounted broomsticks, as had Mundungus Fletcher. Hagrid meanwhile had a motorbike with a sidecar for the real Harry to sit in. The six fake Harrys all wore the same clothes as the real one and carried cages with stuffed snowy owls in them. The real Hedwig looked fairly unnerved by these. Tom and Jerry walked over to the sidecar of the motorbike. Jerry leapt up on to it.

"So how are we supposed to fit into this thing if H.P's gonna be sitting in it. I mean this is a one seater."

"Don't worry, we thought of that" said Moody. "Hermione."

The Harry that was seated behind Kingsley on a thestral took out a small, woollen bag from his/her pocket and threw it over to Tom, who caught it.

"You need to get inside it" said the Harry in Hermione's voice.

"But I'll never fit inside this!" protested Tom. "This bag's so small I wouldn't be surprised if Jerry didn't fit in it!" Indeed, the bag was only a little bit bigger than Tom's paw.

"Do as you're told!" barked Moody. "We haven't got time for protests!"

"I'll go first" declared Jerry. Tom opened the bag was wide was he could, Jerry leapt straight in. Surprisingly, it was at least two minutes until Tom felt him hit the bottom.

"It's Ok" Jerry called up. "It's bigger on the inside."

"Really?" said Tom. He poked his head inside the bag and found that actually, the inside of the bag was large enough to accomodate his entire bottom. Below him, Jerry waved up.

Suddenly Tom was sent tumbling head first into the bag as someone picked it up. He heard Jerry cry out, a noise that was abruptly cut off all of a sudden. As Tom landed at the bottom of the bag, he looked up to see Moody's magical eye down at him.

"Comfortable?" asked Moody.

"Not really" came Jerry's muffled voice. Quickly, Tom picked himself up off his friend's slightly squashed form.

"Well you'd better make yourselves comfortable because you're gonna be in there for a while" said Moody. His eye disappeared and Tom and Jerry felt the bag being thrown on to the sidecar. A few moments later, the real Harry peeked in.

"Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, as long as I don't get squashed by my best friend again, I should be fine" said Jerry as he clambered up Tom's back.

"Alright everyone, let's go!" came Moody's voice from outside. Tom and Jerry heard the rumble of the motorcycle's engine as Hagrid started it up, and then felt the ground move beneath them.

"Are we flying by any chance?" Jerry inquired as he climbed on to Tom's head.

"Yes" answered Harry.

"What are you doing on my head?" Tom asked Jerry.

"No offense, Tom, but I'm not gonna take anymore chances where being squished is concerned" said Jerry. "I'm staying up here where it's safe. Besides, I'll be able to peek out and see what's going on."

"Moody said to stay hidden!"

"Chillax, Tom" said Jerry coolly. "I'm small, remember? As long as I don't draw attention to myself, nobody's gonna notice a little guy like me."

"Tell that to the Hungarian Horntail."

"Oh shut down there, you'll distract me from the action." Jerry stood on tiptoes and peeked out just above the rim of the bag. Outside he could see Hedwig in her cage right next to him. He turned to her.

"Hey Hedwig, you've got better night vision than me?" Can you tell me if you see anything, anything dangerous I mean?"

Hedwig peered into the dark sky around them.

"No, nothing yet. Oh wait, hang on."

"What?"

"I see some men on broomsticks, I've never seen humans like them though. They've got metal faces like skulls."

Shocked, Jerry stared ahead into the darkness, hoping against hope that Hedwig was mistaken. Then sure enough, he saw four figures speeding towards them on broomsticks.

"Death Eaters at 12 o'clock! Four of them!" cried Jerry.

"Right, time to go purple button!" said Hagrid.

Before Jerry could ask what 'purple button' meant, a jet of dragon's fire billowed out of the motorbike's exhaust pipe and sent it shooting forward. It also sent Jerry shooting back into the bag. As he fell, he grabbed hold of Tom's back fur.

"What's happening out there? And why are we moving so fast?" screamed Tom over the din made by the motorbike.

"We're being chased by Death Eaters on broomsticks" Jerry screamed back. "Hagrid's trying to lose 'em!"

As Jerry climbed back up Tom's back, the motorbike began to slow down.

"Do we think we lost them?" said Tom.

"Avada Kedavra!" screamed a distant voice outside.

"No" said Jerry as he reached the bottom of Tom's neck.

"Avada Kedavra" said the voice again, closer now. This time it was followed by a shrill shriek that sounded familiar. Tom and Jerry's jaws dropped. They hoped that that shriek wasn't what they thought it was.

'No, Hedwig!" screamed Harry, destroying Tom and Jerry's hopes. Jerry quickly cleared the last of Tom's neck and peeked out of the bag.

"No, oh no!" he gasped. Hedwig's cage was still erect, but Hedwig herself was now lying lifeless at the bottom of it, her feet sticking in the air.

"What is?" asked Tom from inside the bag. "Is Hedwig...

"Yes, she's dead" replied Jerry, fighting back tears. He'd never got to say goodbye. Soon though he managed to tear his eyes away from Hedwig's body. There were now just two Death Eaters chasing them now.

"Stupefy!" shouted Harry. A jet of red light hit one of the Death Eaters and he fell from the sky. The other Death Eater raised his wand and his spell hit the link between the sidecar and the motorbike.

"Oh my God! Man the lifeboats! We're going down!" screamed Jerry.

"Not if I can help it!" declared Harry. "Wingardium Leviosa." And for the time being, the sidecar remained in the air.

"You'd better get on the bike with me, Harry" said Hagrid. Gingerly, Harry clambered out of the sidecar and sat down behind Hagrid. Then he reached for the bag with Tom and Jerry in and lifted it out.

"Don't worry about the sidecar, Harry. I'll fix it" said Hagrid, pointing his flowery umbrella. At that moment, a spell from the Death Eater behind them hit the sidecar, which exploded instantly, along with everything in it.

"What's that noise. What's going on?" screamed Tom.

"Well the sidecar's history, and we're still being chased."

"The sidecar's destroyed? Oh my God, are we falling?"

"No, Harry got us out just in time" said Jerry, with more than a hint of relief in his voice. He turned his attentions to the Death Eater that has destroyed the sidecar he and Tom had been only seconds before.

"Expelliarmus!" cried Harry. The Death Eater's wand was sent tumbling to the ground.

"Don't you think maybe you use that spell a little too often, H.P?" said Jerry. Harry opened his mouth to answer, but instead he screamed in agony and put his hand to his scar. Jerry gasped in horror. Harry's scar usually only ever hurt under one condition: when Voldemort was nearby.

"Leave him, Shunpike" a cold, hissing voice rang out across the sky. "He is mine, mine!"

Out of the darkness came a figure wrapped in a black cloak, flying without broom, thestral or flying motorbike. As it came neck and neck with the sidecar, a white, spider like hand appeared from beneath the folds of the cloak and withdrew a wand. As the figure took aim, Jerry caught a fleeting glimpse of two slits-for-pupils eyes glowing bright red. The last time he had seen eyes like that it was when he and Tom had been attacked by Voldemort's snake at the Ministry, so any doubts that this figure was Voldemort himself were quickly dispelled.

Jerry ducked back down into the bag.

"Who's voice was that outside?" asked Tom in a voice full of fear.

"It's him, Tom. It's Voldemort, he's out there."

"What? Let me see!" cried Tom. He peeked through a small hole in the bag and was almost blinded by what he saw. Voldemort had cast one spell, Harry had cast another, and these two spells had met in the middle and between them formed a link of red and green light between the two wands. Looking up and away from the light, Tom saw the figure in the black cloak soaring along with the motorbike. Like Jerry, he too caught a glimpse of those red eyes and was horrified by them.

But before he pulled away from the hole, he saw something else. The red spell from Harry's wand seemed to be overcoming the green one from Voldemort's wand, it continued with this until eventually the wand in Voldemort's hand shattered. The handle was sent spinning away into the night. Voldemort let loose and ear-splitting scream so horrific that Tom closed his eyes tight and put his hands over his ears.

At long last, the motorbike landed. There was a loud splash and suddenly the bag felt slightly wet. Then, Harry opened it and looked in.

"Are you guys ok?"

"Is...Is he gone?" asked Tom. "Is it safe to come out?"

"Yeah, he's gone. We lost him" said Harry. "And yes, it's safe to come out."

"Where are we?" inquired Jerry as Tom clambered out of the bag.

"The Burrow" Harry replied as Jerry leapt into his palm. Sure enough, just a few feet away from them was the lopsided, multi-storeyed farmhouse that the Weasley family called home.

"Right" said Hagrid as he dragged both himself and the motorbike out of a dirty looking duck pond. Both Hagrid and the bike were soaking wet. "I s'pose we best get inside."

Harry, Tom and Jerry walked alongside Hagrid towards the Burrow. As they neared the front door, Tom and Jerry looked at each other and smiled in relief. It had been a terrifying ride fraught with danger, but at least for now, both they and Harry were safe.


	23. Will and Wedding

**Ok readers, firstly I'd like to say that I am so sorry that this has taken so long. It's just that I've had so much else to worry about, school-wise, which hasn't left much time to write fanfictions. Secondly, I would also like to point out that I do not own Harry Potter, and the reason the will and Kingsley's warning are written in almost the exact way they are in the book is only because I felt it was appropriate for the chapter. Otherwise I own nothing.**

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* * *

**

The first few days after arriving at the Burrow had not been good. The moment Tom and Jerry had entered the kitchen, they had been greeted by the site of George lying on the sofa, blood cascading from the gaping hole where his ear had once been. Apparently it had been blasted off by dark magic over Little Whinging, and because of that, it could never be magicked back. Even worse than that, Moody had also been hit, but fatally. Mundungus had abandoned him as soon as he took one look at Voldemort, after that, despite his expertise in fighting Death Eaters, Moody was finished. These terrible events had left holes in all those affected.

However, recently the mood had begun to lift. Bill and Fleur was engaged to be married and the past few days had been spent preparing for the wedding. Admittedly for Tom, Jerry, Harry, Ron and Hermione, it had also been spent planning their crusade to find and destroy all of Voldemort's _real _horcruxes, but the wedding was still a major priority.

Now the big day had arrived. The marquee was up, Fleur's parents and sister had arrived just the other day, and the wedding was due to begin in an hour.

Tom looked at himself in the mirror as he adjusted the tuxedo Mrs. Weasley had made for him. Although he'd never worn clothes much before, he had to admit he didn't look too bad in his tailed jacket and black bow tie, the latter of which he was now adjusting. On the kitchen table behind him, Jerry could barely stay still for excitement.

"I still can't believe Fleur asked us to be page boys" he said.

"Well, '_Musophobics Anonymous' _did recommend it as a way of getting over her mouse phobia" said Tom. "Plus, I think she kinda likes you now."

"Yeah, kinda strange seeing until last year, I hadn't seen her since the end of the Triwizard Tournament" said Jerry.

There came the sound of someone coming down the stairs and Hermione came into the kitchen. She was dressed in a lilac dress which fitted her perfectly, and seemed to slide over her body as she walked.

"Well, don't you two look smart?" she said.

"You don't look too bad yourself, H.G." said Jerry. "If it wasn't bad manners to do so at a wedding I'd even say you look better than the bride."

"I doubt it. Besides, you haven't even seen Fleur yet."

"I thought that was Bill's job, not to see her before the wedding."

The three of them all laughed at Jerry's joke, but then the door opened and Mr Weasley came in.

"Ah, there you are. I've been looking for you three. Rufus Scrimgeour is here."

"The Minister for Magic?" cried Tom.

"Yes, and he wants to see you, Harry and Ron immediately. He's here to read Dumbledore's will to you."

At this, Tom, Jerry and Hermione all left the room and followed Mr. Weasley silently to an area behind the house. The mention of Dumbledore's name had, for Tom and Jerry at least, caused some of the old gloom from the first day come back, but this time it was worse as the vague memories of the late headmaster plummeting from the Astronomy Tower came back to them. Somewhat gloomily, they sat down on one of the chairs provided. Harry and Ron occupied the two to their right, and Hermione sat in the one on their left. In front of them behind a small round table sat Rufus Scrimgeour with a briefcase.

"I'll just...I'll just leave you to it then, Minister" said Mr. Weasley respectively.

"Yes, thank you, Arthur" said Scrimgeour as Mr. Weasley left. He cleared his throat and put the briefcase down on the table in front of him. Then he reached into his pocket and withdrew a folded sheet of paper and a pair of spectacles. He put the spectacles on his crooked nose and unfolded the paper, from which he read aloud.

_"This is the last will and testament of Albus Dumbledore." _He opened the briefcase, reached in and pulled out what looked like a silver, opaque cigarette lighter to Tom and Jerry.

"I didn't know Dumbledore smoked" whispered Tom as quietly as he felt was respectful enough.

"_To Ronald Bilius Weasley_" Scrimgeour continued, "_I leave my Deluminator, in the hope that he will remember me when he uses it."_

"What's a deluminator?" asked Tom as Srimegeour handed the thing over to Ron.

"It's a magical device that puts out lights" Harry explained. "Dumbledore used to use this one a lot."

"Dumbledore taught thousands of students in his time" said Scrimgeour. "Why do you think he would give this, one of his most valued posessions, to you, Mr. Weasley?"

"Dunno" said Ron absent-mindedly. "To turn lights on and off without using 'Lumos' and 'Nox' I guess." Scrimgeour returned to his reading of the will.

_"To Miss Hermione Jean Granger, I leave my copy of 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard', in the hope that she will find it entertaining and instructive."_

Scrimgeour reached into the briefcase once again, this time producing a small and very battered book with a peeling cover that looked like it was about to fall to pieces at any minute.

"Is that Chinese?" asked Jerry, pointing to the unfamilar text in which the the title of the book was written.

"Actually, it's runes" said Hermione, in a voice that made it sound like she was going to cry.

"Why do you think Dumbledore left you that book, Miss Granger?" Scrimgeour inquired.

"He...he knew I liked reading" said Hermione.

"But this is a book of fairy tales. Hardly the sort of thing I would have expected a seventeen year old witch to read."

"Well, I suppose Dumbledore must have thought differently."

"It's written in runes" Scrimgeour noted. "Why do you think that is, Miss Granger? Did you and Dumbledore ever use runes as codespeak?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Scrimgeour. I don't mean to be rude but I thought you were here to read us the will, not interrogate us about why Dumbledore left us the things he did" said Tom. "By the way, did he leave anything for us, Jerry and me?"

Looking somewhat peeved at being put in his place by a talking cat, Scrimgeour's eyes returned to the will.

_"To Thomas Bartholomew Cat, and Gerald Tiberius Mouse, I leave a phial of tears from my dear pet, Fawkes, in the hope that they will be reminded of its usefulness."_

He handed over a crystal phial about the lenth of a pinky finger, filled with a clear, sparkling liquid. Tom took it in his paw and looked at it.

"Well, I guess it might be useful for cuts and bruises."

_"To Harry James Potter"_ Scrimgeour continued, _"I leave the snitch he caught in his first quidditch game at Hogwarts, as a reminder of the rewards of perseverance and skill."_

Handing over the tiny winged ball to Harry, he resumed his asking of questions.

"Why did Dumbledore leave you this snitch, Mr. Potter. Do you think it is for the reasons I just read out, or do you think there is more to it than that?"

"How could there be more to it?" asked Harry, looking gloomily at the thing flapping its wings weakly in his hand. "It's only a snitch."

"Then you don't know the true properties of a snitch, Mr. Potter" said Scrimgeour. "Snitches have flesh memories, they remember the touch of the very first person who's flesh touched them. And that person is always the seeker, as the makers wear gloves."

"What does a snitch having a flesh memory have to do with anything?" asked Jerry.

"Snitches can sometimes open when they're touched by the person for whom they have a flesh memory" Scrimgeour explained. "Dumbledore might have hidden something for Mr. Potter inside of it."

"Well if he did hide something, it certainly wasn't for me" said Harry morosely. "This snitch isn't even beginning to open." He put the snitch in his pocket.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you, Mr. Scrimgeour, but we got a wedding to get to" said Jerry, making to leave his seat. "Thanks for coming by."

"Just a minute, I'm not finished yet" said Scrimgeour with a hint of impatience in his voice. He turned to Harry. "Dumbledore left you a second bequest, Mr. Potter. The Sword of Godric Gryffindor."

"What?" gasped Harry, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Where is it?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have the sword with me, Mr. Potter. Nor could I give it to you even if I did." was Scrimgeour's answer.

"But Dumbledore wanted Harry to have it!" protested Tom.

"And it's rightfully Harry's" Hermione added. "It came to him in the Chamber of Secrets when he was fighting Slytherin's basilisk."

Scrimgeour put up his hand to silence any further protests.

"Mr. Cat, Miss Granger, there are two viable reasons why I cannot give Mr. Potter the sword. The first is that it is an artefact of great importance to Magical history, and was never Dumbledore's to give away as he pleased. The second is that reliable sources state that the sword may present itself to the Gryffindor most worthy of wielding it. Just because during the incident in the Chamber of Secrets, that Gryffindor happened to be Mr. Potter, that does not make him the sword's rightful owner."

"That still doesn't make it right to dishonour Dumbledore's last wish and not give it to Harry" cried Tom in outrage. "For all we know it may be the only thing that can help him kill You-Know-Who."

"I don't have time for this, Mr. Cat" said Scrimgeour as he stood up. "I must return to the Ministry. I hope you all have a nice day and enjoy the gifts you've been left with. Goodbye."

And with a loud bang, he disapparated and was gone. Jerry leapt on to Tom's shoulder and looked down at the phial of phoenix tears.

"Well this is anticlimatic. We're about to embark on a perilous journey that may get us all killed, and what do we get to do it with? A magic cigarette lighter, a snitch, a Japanese book of fairy stories and phoenix tears."

Ordinarily, either Harry or Hermione would have reprimanded Jerry for this comment, and told him he was being disrespectful to Dumbledore. But this time they didn't, because they and everyone else present all felt the same thing, especially Harry. Why did Dumbledore leave them with trinkets instead of something that would actually be useful in destroying Voldemort? And where was the sword, the only thing that could be remotely useful in their quest to destroy the horcruxes?

"Well at least phoenix tears have healing powers" said Harry. "What am I going to do with a snitch? It's not like I'll be playing quidditch any time soon."

"Well" said Tom, speaking in a more upbeat tone to try and lift the mood. "I think we'd better get to the wedding, otherwise we may have a bridezilla on our hands."

* * *

The wedding went extremely well, despite endless loud criticism from Ron's Aunt Muriel.

Fleur looked a dream in her wedding gown, the gossamer veil that covered her face looked like it had had fine snow scattered on it. The dress itself was nowhere near as extravagent as Tom and Jerry had been expecting at first. It wasn't the sort of fluffy, puffy, covered with lace flowers dress that made her look like a cream puff, it was sleek and well fitting and may even have passed for a normal white dress were it not for the long train that she dragged down the aisle behind her. She hadn't been able to resist having that part of the costume.

Tom and Jerry did well as page boys. Tom carried the rings on a purple satin pillow fringed with gold, while Jerry sat in between them. When the time came for the exchanging of the rings, Tom humbly bowed down before Bill and presented the pillow, then Jerry handed a ring to Bill and later to Fleur. Fleur's hand was trembling a bit as Jerry handed her her ring, but only a little and she kept her composure.

As for Bill himself, he looked so smart in his groom's jacket, and his hair had been arranged by his mother in a way that both made him look extremely handsome, and hid the scars that Fenrir Greyback had inflicted on his face earlier in the summer.

Now the reception was in full swing. All around the marquee people were dancing, eating, drinking, and generally merry making. Above their heads, a several conjured birds of paradise flew around singing joyfully, bringing a sense of magic to the occasion.

Over by the food table, Tom and Jerry were getting stuck in. Jerry was sitting in the middle of the cheese platter, resting against a large hunk of lincolnshire poacher while tucking into a piece of brie that was almost the same size as his head. Meanwhile Tom had eaten five mini tuna sandwiches, plus two large pieces of smoked salmon, and was now washing it all down with tankards of butterbeer.

"You wanna slow down there, Tom" said Jerry through a mouthful of brie. "That's your third butterbeer."

"This from the mouse who's eating his body weight in cheese" said Tom. Indeed Jerry's midriff had swollen considerably since he had started eating, to the extent where many of the buttons on his little tuxedo were in danger of popping off. He turned his attentions to Harry (or rather, Barney Weasley, as he was being called while he remained under the influence of polyjuice potion), who was talking to Viktor Krum over by one of the nearby tables. Jerry couldn't help but notice that as they were talking, Krum was repeatedly glaring resentfully at a man who had introduced himself as Xenophillius Lovegood, Luna's father. At one point he also pointed to something on Mr. Lovegood's clothes.

With considerable difficulty given all the cheese inside him, Jerry managed to stand up and take a look at this thing. Upon inspection it looked rather unremarkable to him. It was a triangle with a circle in it, which in turn had a straight vertical line going through it. Jerry couldn't for the life of him think why Krum would hold that against Xenophilius, if that was indeed the reason for his apparent animosity towards him.

Suddenly the joyous mood of the wedding was aprubtly interuppted as a patronus came shooting out of the sky into the marquee. The guests scattered, creating a space for it to land and take the form of a lynx, which sat down. The guests eventually stopped and looked cautiously at the patronus, after a few moments of silence it spoke in Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice.

"They are coming. The Ministry has fallen, Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

And with that it vanished. For about five seconds there was silence. Then anarchy ensued.

Guests screamed and those who didn't disapparate there and then all made a mad rush for the exit. Tables and chairs were turned over in the rush, food went crashing to the floor. The air was filled with the sound of screaming. Worse still, within a few minutes of the patronus' disappearance, new figures apparated into the marquee. Figures dressed in black cloaks and with skull-like face masks, Death Eaters.

Tom wasted no time. He threw down his half empty tankard of butterbeer, picked up Jerry and made a run for it. Dashing in between the legs of terrified wedding guests, he searched desperately for Ron or Hermione.

"Ron, Hermione" he called desperately.

"Tom, Jerry!" Hermione's voice answered. Tom looked to his left to see her standing with Ron and the disguised Harry and waving desperately at him and Jerry. He hurried over to them.

"We have to get away from here" shouted Hermione over the din. "Hold my hand." Tom took Hermione's hand in his paw.

Meanwhile, one of the Death Eaters (Dolohov, although his face was hidden by his mask), turned and saw the five figures all holding hands. One with curly red hair took out his wand. The Death Eater turned and cast 'Expelliarmus' at him, but it was too late. By the time the spell got within range of the wand, they had all disapparated from the wedding marquee.


	24. Old Flames and Old Enemies

Back in the present, Old Tom sighed as he remembered the events that followed his escape from the wedding. It had certainly been a perilous time. Number 12 Grimmauld Place had been under the watch of the Death Eaters 24/7, and they had no idea where to start their journey for the horcruxes. To rub salt into their wounds, they had a fake horcrux to speak of, but that was it.

Luckily, with help from Kreacher and that coward, Mundungus Fletcher, they had managed to find the location of the real locket. The bad news was...

* * *

"Umbridge, why did it have to be Umbridge?" groaned Jerry.

They were standing in an alleyway in the middle of London. Somewhere underneath them was the Ministry of Magic, and now three of its workers lay unconscious by some nearby dustbins while Hermione plucked out some of their hairs for polyjuice potion.

"Well, I suppose it only makes sense" said Harry bitterly. "I mean she's so evil, it only makes sense that she should have something of Vol-

"Don't say his name!" cried Ron as loudly as he dared.

Tom remained silent. He had no more wish to see Umbridge again than the rest of them, but in a way he was glad that they would have to run into her again. In case there was any chance that with her, being forced to go along with her dastardly deeds, was someone Tom had longed to see for a long time. Someone for whom he had developed feelings for, and she him, only be to be cruelly seperated by Umbridge. Duchess. Apart from helping Harry to defeat Voldemort, that was the only reason Tom was coming to the Ministry with them, to try and see Duchess again, and free her from her tyrannical owner.

Presently, Harry, Ron and Hermione had drunk their polyjuice potion and had now assumed the forms of Albert Runcorn, Reginald Cattermole and Mafalda Hopkirk respectively. Harry turned to Tom and Jerry.

"You two know what to do, right?". Tom and Jerry nodded as their owner tossed them his invisibility cloak.

Ten minutes later, they were all walking through the great atrium of the Ministry of Magic. From beneath the invisibility cloak, Tom and Jerry could see that the fountain that had once stood in the centre had been replaced by a large statue of several well dressed witches and wizards posing grandly on a large, stone slab. On closer inspection, it became clear that the slab was made up of two parts. On one stood the witches and wizards, sandwiched between that and the other part was a mix of men, women and children, all carved with ugly, stupid looking faces.

"Muggles" said Hermione, trying her best to hide the disgust in her voice. "Muggles in their rightful place."

Tom and Jerry's hearts sank. The statue was a perfect sign of what would happen if Voldemort was not stopped. And Tom and Jerry both knew that it would not just be muggles that would be put in their 'rightful place'. Joining them would be others whom Voldemort would declare unworthy of a place in his tyrannical regime, muggle borns, squibs, half breeds, all of them would be sandwiched in that slab, squashed by Voldemort's followers.

"Cattermole!" shouted a voice from behind. The friends turned and to their dismay, saw the Death Eater Yaxley striding towards them.

"Cattermole" he barked again, pointing at Ron. "I'm fed up of telling you, it's still raining in my office! Do something about it!"

Ron was silent for a moment, clearly unsure of what to say. Then eventually, he said:

"Shall I get you an umbrella?" Jerry slapped his hand to his forehead.

"You'd better watch yourself, Cattermole" growled Yaxley. "Need I remind you that your mudblood wife is about to be questioned about her blood status, I'll be on my way there to interrogate her as soon as Dolores arrives. Now I don't know about you, but if my wife were accused of being a mudblood, not that any woman I'd ever marry would be mistaken for such scum, I'd do all in my power to improve her situation, including doing a job for the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes"

"Good. Now get to my office and sort out that rain problem. I want it to be 100% dry in there within the hour."

While Ron shuffled off in the direction Yaxley pointed out, a sickly sweet odor assailed Jerry's nose. Fighting back the urge to gag, he recalled where he had last smelt that smell. It had been at several moments in Harry's fifth year, always when something bad had happened. It was the perfume Umbridge wore whenever she felt that something was going to go particularly well for her. And the smell of it was getting more and more potent.

"Ah, Mafalda, there you are" came the sickening voice Tom and Jerry knew only too well. Immediately distinguishable amongst the crowds of nondescriptly dressed wizards and witches was the short, toad-like witch dressed in bright pink. She was no different to when Tom and Jerry had last seen her. She walked with the same waddle, had the same permed, mousy hair, wore the same smug smile on her face. Tom was disappointed however, to see that Duchess was not with her.

Then suddenly he noticed that actually there was one thing different about Umbridge. Last time, she had not been known to wear necklaces, or anything else around her neck for that matter. But this time, she wore something Tom recognised instantly, for he had seen the fake copy of it so many times, the locket of Salazar Slytherin. So Mundungus Fletcher had been telling the truth.

"Perfect timing Mafalda" crooned Umbridge. "I need someone to help take records during the interrogations today. We've quite a few to get through today." She looked down at a clipboard she was carrying. "Tsk, tsk, 10 suspected mudbloods today, and one the wife of a Ministry employee. Is nowhere safe from them?" Hermione didn't answer.

"Oh well, we needn't worry" said Umbridge. "Most likely they'll all have had the dementor's kiss by the end of the day, and they'll be no threat to us ever again. Come along, Mafalda." She took Hermione by the arm as if she were leading a small child and waddled off towards the lifts with her. Tom ran after them, still holding the invisibility cloak aloft. If there was any chance that she had brought Duchess along with her, he was going to take it.

Unfortunately, in Tom's haste, he accidentally pulled the cloak off of Jerry. Within seconds, a high pitched scream rang out across the atrium.

"Eeeek, a mouse!"

Jerry looked up to see a tall, brunette witch holding up her skirt with one had and pointing at him with the other.

"Gee, and I thought it was only blond, French witches that were scared of mice" he thought out loud. The witch screamed and fainted. As soon as she hit the floor, wands were whipped out of pockets. Witches and wizards,some ,of whom Jerry recognised as Death Eaters, began to bear down on him, anger and disgust etched on their faces. Jerry felt a hand clamp itself around his body, pinning his arms to his body. He wriggled and squirmed to free himself but the hand that held him was unrelenting. He was trapped.

"Put your wands away, I'll deal with this mouse" spoke a rough voice Jerry recognised. He turned around to see that his captor was Albert Runcorn, but of course it wasn't actually Runcorn, it was Harry. Jerry allowed himself to feel relaxed as Harry took him away. As soon as they were out of earshot of anyone, he whispered to him.

"H.P, Umbridge is wearing the locket."

"I know, I saw it. We've got to get after her."

How? Doesn't Albert Runcorn have some sort of other duty to be doing right now?"

"Albert!" came a loud and familiar voice. Harry hastily stuffed Jerry into his pocket, but Jerry still knew that they were being approached by Mr. Weasley.

"Albert, I hear you put down Reg Cattermole's wife for interrogation."

"Yeah, so what if I did?" said Harry, sounding very convincing as a man who didn't care who was subjected to Umbridge's undoubtedly merciless interrogations.

"She's a good person Albert. She and that Dirk Cresswell you informed the Registration Comission on last week are both ten times the person you are. And I just want to warn you that if either of them survives a spell in Azkaban, you're the one who'll have to answer for it."

"You're assuming they'll even make it through Azkaban" sneered Harry. "Personally, I don't think either of them has the guts."

Suddenly an all too familiar feeling of cold deathliness came over Jerry. He shivered inside Harry's pocket and tried desperately to summon happy thoughts into his mind. But as was usually the case around dementors, that was very difficult.

"I think he's looking for you, Albert" said Mr. Weasley. "Perhaps you should follow him, wouldn't want to miss an interrogation with Dolores, would we?" he added bitterly. Then there came the sound of retreating footsteps, and they were alone with the dementor. Jerry hoped that that awful creature couldn't sense him inside Harry's pocket, he did not feel he had the emotional capacity to cast an effective patronus right now.

Presently, the feeling of deppression grew worse and worse, the air grew colder all the time, Jerry knew there were more dementors around. Then there came the sound of a door being opened, followed by the voice of some poor soul pleading in vain for mercy.

"No, no, please. I'm half-blood, honest, I swear it, I'm half-blood."

"Take him away and administor the kiss" said Umbridge in a sadistically casual way. "Next: Mary Cattermole."

As Harry advanced in the direction of the voices, Jerry felt the air around him grow warmer and more comfortable. Cautiously, he peeked out through a tiny hole in the pocket. He saw that they were on top of a tall ridge, overlooking a plain, dark room, completely bare save for the small chair into which a small, frightened looking woman was being forced to sit down, and the hordes of dementors lurking in the shadows, kept at bay by the fluffy cat patronus that could only belong to Umbridge. Only she could possibly be so happy performing the cruel task of sentencing Muggle Borns to life in Azkaban. Umbridge herself was seated at an ornately carved desk looking at a sheet of paper. On one side of her stood Yaxley, on the other side was Hermione disguised as Mafalda Hopkirk. Seated on the desk, looking just as miserable with her situation as ever, was Duchess. Jerry wondered if Tom was watching her right now.

As it turned out, he was right. Hidden beneath the invisibility cloak, Tom had barely taken his eyes off Duchess since he'd followed Umbridge and Hermione into the room, and his heart had ached to see her so miserable. The look on her face strongly suggested that things had gotten a lot worse for her since the last time they had seen each other. But with any luck, that would all end today. Tom planned to take Duchess away from all this, he was just waiting for the right opportunity.

"Mrs. Cattermole, upon your arrival at the Ministry this morning, a wand was found and removed from your person" Umbridge held out a withered hand, into which Yaxley placed a wand. Umbridge examined it closely.

"Eight and three quarter inches, cherry wood, unicorn hair core" she said in a beastly parody of the way in which Ollivander selected wands for selling. She looked down at Mrs. Cattermole. "Could you please tell us from whom you stole this wand, so it may be returned to them posthaste."

"I...I didn't steal that wand" stammered Mrs. Cattermole. "I bought it in Ollivanders when I was eleven."

"Ha, I think not, Mrs. Cattermole" sneered Umbridge. "As I have said to many others before you, wands only choose wizards or witches, neither of which you are. Isn't that right, Duchess?"

Duchess did not respond. Umbridge held Mrs. Cattermole's wand above her head.

"Duchess, I'm waiting for a reply." When none came from Duchess, Umbridge brought down the wand. It smacked against Duchess' back and she yowled in pain.

"Nod, you stupid creature. Nod!" shouted Umbridge.

"Conjunctivitis!"

Out of nowhere it seemed, a jet of crimson light sped through the air and hit Umbridge in the eyes before she could cast a counter-curse. She screamed and toppled backwards in her chair. Duchess looked in the direction the conjuntivitis curse had come from. The air before her eyes shimmered and the next thing she knew, she was looking at someone she had thought she would never see again.

"Tom?"

"Hello, Duchess" said Tom, holding his arms out wide.

"Look out" came a small voice from behind. Tom ducked as something small and orange leapt out of 'Albert Runcorn's' pocket and sent a spell flying over his head towards Yaxley.

"Jerry?" gasped Duchess in surprise.

"The one and only" said Jerry sarcastically as he blocked a spell from Yaxley. Runcorn stepped forward and took out his wand and for a moment, Duchess thought he was going to attack Jerry. But instead, he cast 'stupefy' on Yaxley, sending him flying across the room. As he did so, his face began to change. His hair grew longer and darker, the wisps of grey vanishing, a lightning bolt shaped scar appeared on his forehead and eventually, he took a pair of round glasses out of his pocket and put them on his face. It was the Potter boy.

"Jerry" cried Harry, "Get the horcrux."

Jerry wasted no time. He scurried over to Umbridge and leapt up on to her neck. He grabbed the locket and gave it a good hard yank, the chain snapped immediately. From within her large, bulbous eyes, Umbridge squinted at Jerry.

"Yeah, Toad Face, it's me" said Jerry contemptously. "Actually, now that your eyes look like that, Toad Face is more appropriate a name than ever for you." He stuck his tongue out and hurried back to Harry with the horcrux.

"Duchess, come on" said Tom, beckoning with his paw. "It's time to come away from all this." Duchess leapt down from the desk and hurried up to Tom.

"Harry, let's go, the dementors are coming" cried Hermione, who had now reassumed her true appearance and was running alongside a freed Mrs. Cattermole. The six of them made a mad rush for the door as the air in the room grew colder and the feeling of dread increased.

As Tom, Jerry and Duchess cleared the doorway, they heard a loud scream coming from behind, the scream was Umbridge's. Despite the danger they were in, they could not resist turning around and peeking through the crack in the door. Umbridge was sitting upright on the floor with a wand in her hand, her eyes still swollen. All around her, the dementors were closing in, now that the fluffy cat patronus had vanished.

"What are you doing? Back, back I say. I'm warning you. Expecto Patronum, expecto-

But her spell was of no use. The dementors were too close, they had sucked all the sadistic happiness out of her. One of them reached forward with a scabby hand, grabbed Umbridge's face and tilted it up towards where it's own face should have been. With its other hand, it lifted back its cloak to reveal its hideous mouth. Tom and Jerry knew what was going to happen next, but they felt no pity for this particular soon-to-be victim of the dementor's kiss.

"No, no" gasped Umbridge weakly as the dementor moved its mouth close to her own. But Tom, Jerry and Duchess never got to see Umbridge's final judgement, for firm hands grabbed them from behind and whisked them away from the scene.

"Come on, you idiots!" cried Harry, picking up Tom and Jerry by the scruff of the neck. Hermione was carrying Duchess. As they headed for the atrium, there were cries of 'hey, isn't that Potter? Undesirable No. 1?'

"Reg!" screamed Mrs. Cattermole as she spotted the person who was actually Ron, pushing his way through the crowd towards Harry and Hermione. "Reg, we need to go home and get the children and get out of this country while we still can!"

"No, no, I'm not your husband" protested Ron, as red hair began to replace the sandy coloured hair.

"Damn right, you're not" shouted the real Reg Cattermole, who had just entered the atrium in his underwear. "I am!"

Ron took advantage of Mrs. Cattermole's bewilderment to hurry over to Harry, Hermione, Tom, Jerry and Duchess. As he reached them, he pointed at Duchess.

"Hey, isn't that Umbridge's cat?"

"Yes, she's coming with us" said Tom and Hermione in unision.

"Avada Kedavra!" A green jet of light only just missed the friends. Tom and Jerry looked behind to see Yaxley storming towards them, wand in hand.

"Get back here, Undesirables!" he shouted.

He cast another killing curse, but once again he failed to hit his targets as they all dived headfirst into the nearest fireplace.

* * *

An hour later, Tom sat on a log with Duchess while Harry, Ron and Hermione set up a tent nearby. After arriving in the toilets that lead to and from the Ministry atrium, they had then apparated to Grimmauld Place, and then half a second later to what was apparently the woods near where the Quidditch World Cup had been held. Ron had been injured in the process, but luckily, Tom and Jerry had been able to put the phoenix tears Dumbledore had left them to good use.

But now at last, Tom was able to spend at least some time with Duchess. Understandably, they were both a bit shaken by the recent happenings. But at last, Tom turned to Duchess and spoke.

"Duchess, are you ok?" Duchess turned to him and smiled.

"Yes, Tom. Now that I'm with you again, I'm very much ok."


	25. On the Run

"Right" said Harry, placing the locket on the ground, "now how do we destroy this thing?"

"Easy" Jerry declared. He picked up a branch as thick as a man's arm, held it above his head and charged at the horcrux.

"HIIII-YAAAAHH!" he bellowed as he brought the branch crashing down on the locket. But the second it hit it, the branch was shattered, and by the time the resulting sawdust had cleared, Jerry was left with nothing but a splintered stump of a branch, and a shocked look on his face.

"Weird, that normally works"

"Not with something like this, Jerry" said Hermione. "When you think about it, Vold-

"Don't say it!" cried Ron. "Please just call him You-Know-Who, ok?"

"Alright, You-Know-Who then, wouldn't be so stupid as to put a piece of his soul in an object that could easily be destroyed. Horcruxes are incredibly difficult to destory, even with magic. They have to be so badly damaged that they cannot possibly be repaired by magic. Didn't I explain this to you at the Burrow?"

"I must have been sick" said Jerry. In reality, he had actually sneaked downstairs to pinch some cheese, but he wasn't going to tell Hermione that.

"So if we can't destroy it with any kind of magic we know, then what do we do with it?" asked Tom.

"I guess we just have to carry it around with us until we do find a way to destroy it" said Harry, picking up the horcrux and putting it around his neck.

"Don't wear that too long" said Hermione. "We don't know what effects it might have."

"Then we'll take it in turns to wear it" said Harry. "But for now, let's get some dinner on. I'm starving."

"I'll see what I can do" said Hermione as they all headed for the tent. All except Tom and Duchess. They stayed where they were in silence for several moments, until eventually, Tom turned to Duchess.

"Duchess, you know you're safe with us, don't you?"

Duchess turned to Tom.

"Thanks Tom, but I'm not really safe. None of us are. I don't think you _really_ understand just how bad things have got. The Dark Lord is now in complete control of the Ministry, and getting dementors to suck out his enemies' souls is one of the less torturous ways to go nowadays. Every ex-prisoner in Azkaban has joined him, he pays them to bring in fugitives for the Ministry, and believe me, they don't do it nicely. And as long as your master, Potter, lives, the death eaters will be hunting us down like rats. They won't stop until they've caught him, especially now that he was seen at the Ministry. That's why none of us are safe."

Tom took Duchess's paw in his own and stroked it tenderly.

"I know, Duchess. But there's a way to end all this. The Dark Lord has hidden pieces of his soul inside objects scattered all over the place. That locket we stole from Umbridge was one of them. And once we find them all and destroy them, he'll be mortal again."

"Yes, I've heard rumours about these horcruxes" said Duchess. "Do you really think we can find them?"

"We found one, didn't we?" said Tom. "The locket. I mean, yes we've still got 4 more to find, but it's a start. So don't worry, it'll be alright."

Duchess smiled and snuggled up to Tom.

"I believe you, Tom, I believe you."

Tom smiled blissfully and snuggled up to Duchess, wrapping his arms around her as he did so.

A short distance away however, Jerry was looking at the two of them with a less than happy look on his face.

* * *

Unfortunately, as time went by, the possibility of finding a horcrux seemed to dim more and more from everybody's mind. Harry, Ron and Hermione had selected a few possible places where Voldemort would have hidden a piece of his soul, the orphanage he'd grown up in, Borgin and Burkes, Albania. But none of these places seemed at all likely when you thought about it. Voldemort had hated the orphanage, he couldn't wait to get out of it, he wouldn't hide a horcrux there. Besides, when they visited the site, they found that someone had built an office on it.

"I don't suppose there's any chance one of the desk tidies in there is a horcrux?" Tom had said when they arrived there.

Borgin and Burkes was also unlikely, because as the shop specialised in Dark Objects, they would have recognised it at once. Plus, there was the risk it might be bought by someone. And due to the various complications involved in searching an entire country, everyone had agreed that Albania was best left searched as a last resort.

Hogwarts was another possibility according to Harry. But every time he suggested this, Ron and Hermione brushed it away. They claimed that if Voldmort had hidden something at Hogwarts, then Dumbledore would have found it a long time ago, and to some extent, Tom and Jerry agreed with them. On the one hand, it was extremely likely that no horcrux that entered Hogwarts would go undetected for long, on the other, Hogwarts was a very mysterious place and perhaps Dumbledore didn't know it like the back of his hand, as everyone always thought he did. And after all, it did take him a year to realise the diary Ginny had mysteriously claimed in her first year was a horcux.

What was perhaps worse than not knowing where the other horcruxes were, was knowing where two of them were, but having no way of destroying them. Tom and Jerry had recently learned that one of Voldemort's other horcruxes was his snake, Nagini. But she practically never left his side, so until all the other horcuxes were safely out of the way, it was far too dangerous to go looking for her. Tom and Jerry were both quite pleased about this, as neither was in any hurry to see Nagini again after their last encounter.

As for the locket, no matter what they did to it, it would not be destroyed. So for now, Harry, Ron and Hermione did indeed take turns in wearing it around their necks until it could be destroyed. But the longer anyone wore the horcrux, the more irascible and bad tempered they got. And when the person in question was hungry, that made things all the worse. Ron always exhibited the foulest temper whenever he wore it, partly because he was not used to food being hard to come by (which more often than not, it was), but also because he of all the six travelers was the most frustrated with them not finding anything. The horcrux amplified all of that 10 fold.

And Ron wasn't the only one showing visible dissatisfaction. Jerry too was less than pleased with certain aspects of the journey. It wasn't because of the discomfort of their situation, Jerry had been in far worse scrapes than this since he'd met Harry (he couldn't think of any, but he was pretty sure he had been). Nor was it due to the lack of food, although Jerry's mood was certainly better on a full stomach.

It was because ever since they'd escaped from the Ministry, Tom had been spending practically all his time with Duchess. When the animals were supposed to be out collecting wood, Jerry had noticed that the cats spent more time sitting on logs or up trees, nuzzling passionately. When they were collecting water from rivers and lakes, or back in the tent it was the same. And the worst part of it was that most of the time, Tom barely seemed to acknowledge Jerry was there at all. Jerry had tried to be understanding at first, but as time went by, he had began to feel less and less sympathy for Tom. Yes, he had had a crush on Duchess a couple of years ago and it was understandable that he was happy to see her. But that didn't mean he had to spend every waking hour with her.

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, the tension building up inside both Ron and Jerry slowly increased. The unpleasant silences, ocassional pacing up and down the tent, the signs were all there, like a volcano about to erupt at any minute.

That minute came one night as they camped by a Welsh river. Having heard news that Snape had been made headmaster of Hogwarts, and punished some students attempting to steal the sword of Gryffindor from the office (including Ginny), they had then summoned the protrait of Phineas Nigellus, a former master of Hogwarts. They had then learned that the sword in the office was actually a fake, and the last time the real one had been seen was when Dumbledore had used it to crack open a ring.

"Yes" cried Harry after Phineas had left. He leapt up and punched the air.

"OK, spill the beans, Harry. What's the excitement for?" asked Tom.

"The ring, the ring was a horcrux" Harry explained. "And it was destroyed, Dumbledore must have used the sword to do that."

"But how?" asked Tom. "I mean I know it can kill a basilisk, but even a giant snake's not as evil or powerful as a horcrux."

"That's the point, Tom" said Hermione as she stuffed Phineas' portait back into her bag. "The sword was made by goblins, so it imbibes that which strengthens it. Harry ran the sword into the basilisk's mouth, it must have absorbed some of it's venom. And basilisk venom..."

"...is one of the few things that can destroy horcruxes" said Tom, excitedly. He was beginning to see where this was going. "But why would Dumbledore make a fake sword to put in his office."

"He must have predicted the ministry wouldn't let me have it if he put it in his will" said Harry. "That's why he made a fake copy, but where could he have left the real one?"

"Let's not worry about that right now" said Tom. "At least we now know that there _is_ something we can use to destroy horcruxes." And with that he turned and took Duchess in his arms and held her tightly to him.

Suddenly something crashed down on Tom's head with a splintering crack. Pain rushed all around his head and for a few moments his vision was blurred. But when it cleared he saw Jerry standing next hims holding a broken chair above his head.

"What did you do that for?" demanded Tom, deducing that is was Jerry who had hit him.

"Why don't you ask her?" snapped Jerry, pointing at a shocked looking Duchess with his free hand. "She's the one you always wanna talk to. What's so different about now?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I've seen you two, always off smooching up a tree. Leaving me to do all the donkey work, and never paying any attention to me. Well guess what, I'm fed up! Start acknowledging that I exist, Tom. I don't wanna always have to hit you with something to make that happen!"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" cried Tom. "How can you be so selfish, Jerry? Duchess has been living with that torturing old hag, Umbridge all her life, the least she deserves is to be made to feel appreciated. Plus, she's the cat I love!"

"You've only known her a year and a bit. I've been your best friend for more than six years! Don't I deserve to be appreciated too?" said Jerry.

"After the way you've been acting tonight, frankly, no!" shouted Tom.

"Well" said Ron, speaking up for the first time. "As long as Jerry has something to say, I think I might as well voice my opinions too!"

"Your opinions on what?" said Harry.

"This, this whole thing!" snapped Ron. "I mean, let's be honest with each other, I'm not exactly having the time of my life here. Starving hungry, moving from place to sodding place, and for what? This?" He reached into his shirt and pulled out the horcux he was wearing around his neck. "One horcrux that we've got no sodding way to destroy? Fat lot of good it was risking our necks at the ministry to get it, if we can't even destroy it."

"Didn't you listen to a word Phineas said earlier?" snapped Harry. "Dumbledore used the sword to destroy a horcrux!"

"Oh whoopee" said Ron, his voice brimming with sarcasm. "The sword can destroy horcruxes. Oh wait, I've just remembered, we don't know where it is! So here we all are in utter discomfort, living in fear of You-Know-Who finding us, choking on Hermione's _polio and chips _and what do we have to show for it? A whole great long bloody list of things to find that just got bloody longer!"

"I spent an hour on that roast pike!" cried Hermione.

"Well, I'm sorry everything's not exactly to your liking" said Harry, anger rising in his voice. "I'm sure you probably thought we'd have found all the horcruxes by now, destroyed them all by Guy Fawkes Day, be back to Mummy by Christmas! I've been honest with you, all of you, from the very start. I didn't know where the horcruxes were."

"No, but we thought you had some idea of how to find out where they were!" shouted Ron. "We thought Dumbledore had actually told you something _useful_!"

"Don't talk about Dumbledore like that!" bellowed Harry. "And take that locket off if you think it's so meaningless that we managed to find it."

"Fine!" Ron yanked the locket off his neck and threw it down on the ground at his feet.

"Now go!" snapped Harry. "Go back to Mummy so she can fatten you up!"

"Fine" shouted Ron. He picked up his backpack from his bunk and headed for the entrance to the tent, just before he reached it, he turned back to Harry.

"Did you hear what the people out there said earlier? How Ginny's been sent out into the Forbidden Forest as punishment. But you don't care, do you? You're the one who's faced basilisks and dragons and death eaters, you'd be fine. But guess what? My sister hasn't done all that, she'll be eaten by the first giant effing spider she comes across."

"You think I don't care about Ginny?" roared Harry. "You think I don't know how you feel?"

"No, you don't! It's alright for you and Hermione, your families aren't on the front line, they're safely out harms way."

"My parents are dead, you bastard!" bellowed Harry. He whipped out his wand and pointed it at Ron. "Confringus!"

With a loud bang, Ron was blasted backwards out of the tent!

"Harry, how could you?" screamed Hermione. "Ron, Ron!" she cried as she dashed out into the night. Meanwhile, Tom walked over to the horcrux and picked it up, then he turned to Jerry.

"Well, are you going with him?" he snarled, pointing in the direction Ron had been blasted. Jerry didn't answer at first, instead the two animals stared at each other with intense anger. It was as if the past six years since they had fled Aragog's children had never happened, and that they were still the same bitter enemies they had been before they met Harry.

"No" said Jerry in a low voice after several moments of silence. "I'm staying whether you like it or not."

At that moment, Hermione came back into the tent alone, her face a mask of tears.

"He's...he's gone. Disapparated before I could even get close" she said, her voice choked with sobs.

"Ok, from now on, I'll wear the horcrux" declared Tom.

"What?" said Hermione and Harry in unision.

"Horcruxes play on human weaknesses" said Tom. "Perhaps if I wear it, it won't have the same effect, since I'm not human."

And with that, he headed back to his bunk, Duchess followed him, but she briefly stopped and turned to Jerry.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Jerry. I'd always thought you were a good mouse and a loyal friend to Tom." She sniffed dismissively. "I guess I was wrong."

Jerry said nothing, but his eyes were full of bitterness as they trailed Duchess back to Tom's bunk.

Nobody slept well that night.


	26. Oh No, Not her Again!

"Boy, those were hard times" recalled Old Tom in the present. "As if being on the run 24/7 wasn't hard enough, you and me were at each other's throats as well."

"We weren't the only ones" said Old Jerry. "Remember who else came at our throats one time?"

Tom shuddered at the memory. He knew exactly who Jerry was talking about, as well as the horror of that night when she had tried to go for Harry's throat.

* * *

It was a very sombre Christmas Eve night for the travellers.

Many weeks has passed since Ron had walked out on them, and the atmosphere over those past few weeks had been unbearable. Harry and Hermione both clearly missed Ron. It was obvious in the lonely looking glances they often made in the direction of his vacant bunk, and with him gone, it seemed harder for them to talk to each other or do anything else for that matter. Most of the time when they weren't on the move, they just sat on their bunks in silence, looking completely miserable.

Tom and Jerry's attitude towards each other was even worse. Neither spoke to or even looked at the other if they could help it. And when they did, it was with intense bitterness. Every sentence spoken to each other was an insult. A lot of the time not spent talking, Jerry would slink off to some dark corner of the tent and sit there with a very dark look on his face, all the time averting his gaze from Tom. Tom's temper meanwhile was considerably worse than usual, not as bad as those of his human companions when they had worn the horcurx, but nonetheless, Duchess believed the locket to be contributory. Aside from being in a bad mood a lot of the time, Tom also did not show as much of the tenderness and passion that he used to.

In any event, Harry and Hermione had finally decided on a course of action in regards to finding Gryffindor's sword. They had decided to go and visit Godric's Hollow, his old home, just in case Dumbledore had left it there for them to find. It was an enormous gamble, but it was also a very significant trip for Harry, as Godric's Hollow was the place where his parents had lived, and died, and where he would have grown up had Voldemort not taken all hopes of such a life away from him. He was painfully reminded of that during a trip to the local graveyard.

Now however, they were wandering the streets, hoping that somehow they might find something that could help them find the sword.

"If it's here at all" said Jerry sulkily.

"Can't you just give it a rest with being so negative all the time?" growled Tom.

"Well just think about it, Tom. It's Christmas Eve, Harry's down about his parents, we haven't destroyed a single horcrux, it's freezing cold, and all we've found since we arrived here is that weird symbol of a circle inside a triangle with a straight line going through it."

"You sound like Ron" said Duchess.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Cat Braud!" snapped Jerry.

"Don't you talk to her like that!" bellowed Tom, whisking his wand out. "Aguamenti!"

A torrent of water shot out of his wand and covered Jerry from head to toe. Instantly he started shivering as the water pooled at his feet and turned to ice in the freezing conditions.

"Stop it, you two!" shouted Hermione as she headed towards them. Quickly she scooped up Jerry and after drying him off as best she could, she put him in her back pocket. Then she glared at Tom.

"You know, things are bad enough as it is, without you and Jerry fighting. So for God's sake, work something out between you!"

As she turned to walk back to Harry, Jerry (still shivering) poked his head out of her pocket and stuck his tongue out at Tom. The latter raised his wand.

"No, Tom" said Duchess. "Hermione's right, enough."

And with that she walked away from him after Hermione. Tom sighed and looked down at his wand. Thinking about it, Jerry was right to feel negative. It was a long time now since the excitement of finding the real locket had been present, and now there was only misery and a feeling of fruitlessness at having found nothing since. And to cap it all, it was Christmas Eve today, a time when everyone else was feeling happy and merry, which always makes those who are already miserable even more so. Added to which, friendships within the group were breaking down left right and centre, first Harry and Ron's, then Tom and Jerry's, next it would be Tom and Duchess.

Tom sighed again and closed his eyes. Duchess and Hermione were right. Enough was enough, as soon as he got a chance, he would talk to Jerry and make up for everything that had happened between them lately. It was high time he started paying more attention to his best friend, before he walked out on him like Ron had.

"Are you coming, Tom?" called Harry, snapping Tom out of his trance. He opened his eyes, but as he did so he noticed something out of the corner of his right eye. Turning in that direction, he saw an old woman shuffle out into the street towards him. Harry, Hermione and Duchess came running up to investigate, as they neared the old woman, Hermione gasped.

"Harry, it's her, it's Bathilda Bagshot."

Bathilda Bagshot had been an old friend of the Dumbledore family. Tom had heard Hermione and Harry talk about the possibility that she might therefore be able to help them. All the same, something unnerved him about the old woman. It was if he had met her someplace before and had a bad encounter, and yet she looked like a complete stranger to him.

Bathilda lifted up and decrepit old hand and beckoned for them to follow her as she shuffled slowly off to a nearby house. Slowly, Harry followed her in.

"Harry don't go" said Tom. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Tom, this is an old friend of Dumbledore's. She could help us destroy the horcruxes. I have to talk to her. Don't worry, I'll be back soon."

There came an impatient tapping. Bathilda had reached the house and was now standing by the door, silently beckoning to Harry. He walked up to her, she opened the door and they both went in.

"You know, that old crone may be an old friend of Dumbledore's, but she sure ain't got his manners." said Jerry, sticking his head out of Hermione's pocket. "And call me crazy-with-the-plague, but I gotta feeling we've seen her before."

"How can you have met her before?" inquired Hermione? "She's barely left Godric's Hollow for years, and none of us have ever been here before."

"I don't know why, but when she came near I thought I picked up a familiar scent" said Duchess worriedly. "I've smelt it before at the Ministry a few times, it's not that sort of old human smell, it's more...

""More what?" asked Tom.

"It's more...reptilian" said Duchess. "And another thing, I only ever smelt it when the Dark Lord visited the Ministry."

At that, Tom and Jerry knew exactly who the so-called 'Bathilda Bagshot' was. It was someone who they had hoped to never see again until all the other horcruxes were destroyed, but someone who unfortunately, they were going to have to face again. Quick as a flash, they took out their wands and dashed into the house.

As they entered the front door, they saw that the bottom level was vacant, but there was a lot of commotion going on upstairs. Screaming and hissing and banging about. Tom and Jerry dashed up the nearby spiral staircase and were greeted with a site that mirrored the one they had encountered in the Department of Mysteries two years ago.

Harry was lying on the floor, his hand on his scar, crying in pain. Slithering towards him with a cold certainty of making a kill, was Voldemort's snake. As she neared him, she reared up and prepared to strike.

"Get away from him, bitch!" screamed Tom and Jerry in unision. Nagini turned to them and hissed in fury.

"You again!" she snarled in her horrible, strangled voice. "I should have known you would try to interfere!"

"What about you? Still haven't broken your habit of doing your master's dirty work?" retorted Jerry.

Nagini slithered over to them and reared up, baring her long fangs.

"You and the cat have insulted me and my master for the last time, rodent!" she hissed. "Tonight I'll kill you like I should have done in the Department of Mysteries."

"Yeah, well think fast, reptile features" said Jerry. "Sectumsempra"

The spell cut a gash in Nagini's coil. She hissed and writhed about in pain for about a minute. But then she returned to her previous stance, smiling smugly. To Tom and Jerry's horror, although the wound was very much present, no blood came from it.

"Stupefy" cried Tom. The jet of red light sent Nagini flying across the room. But rather than lying limp, she slithered back towards them.

"Confringo" came Hermione's voice from behind them. Once again, Nagini was unaffected. She reared up in front of Tom and Jerry once again, laughing jeeringly.

"Fools" she hissed mockingly. "I am a horcrux, I do not bleed, I do not feel your spells, none of your puny magic can harm me."

Tom and Jerry could have kicked themselves. Surely the many fruitless hours spent trying to destroy the locket should have taught them that Nagini too could not be destroyed by such simple spells.

"The Dark Lord is on his way" Nagini went on. "Know that before you die, know that you have failed to protect Harry Potter, know that he will die tonight at my master's hand because of your weakness!"

"Serpensortia" someone cried. Nagini looked in that direction and was struck head on by a conjured-up cobra as it shot through the air towards her. She was sent tumbling away from Tom and Jerry, both her and the cobra a wriggling mass of coils. But then they seperated and sized each other up. Nagini was much larger than the cobra, but the other snake had the determination and venom that was just as deadly as Nagini's. It lunged for her throat and sank its fangs into her. Nagini lifted the upper half of her body off the floor, which actually gave the cobra an added advantage, as now it was able to wrap its coils around her. Nagini however would not give up without a fight, and she threw herself about the room, trying to dislodge the cobra.

Meanwhile, Tom and Jerry looked around for their saviour. Looking to the right, they saw what looked like the end of a tiny wand, much like Jerry's, poking out of a mousehole in the skirting board. Moments later, a wizened, old, piebald mouse exited the hole, his wand arm outstretched. He hurried over to them.

"You shouldn't have come here" he said.

"Who are you?" asked Jerry.

"My name is Magnus" croaked the old mouse. "But we haven't got time for introductions. You and Harry Potter need to get out of here."

"How do you know my master?" asked Tom.

"Long story" said Magnus. "But right now we need to move and we need to move fast."

As Tom, Jerry, Hermione and Duchess ran over to Harry with Magnus, Jerry could see that the other mouse was right. Nagini had successfully dislodged Magnus' cobra and killed it with a single dose of her lethal venom. Now she was in the process of swallowing it whole, but already more than half of it had disappeared down her throat. Now, seeing her victims escaping, she seemed to be getting it down even quicker.

As they reached Harry, still clutching his forehead and screaming, Magnus turned to a nearby closet and pointed his wand at it.

"Accio Nimbus 1979!" he cried. The doors of closet swung open and an ancient looking broomstick shot out and clattered to the floor next to them.

"Can anyone here ride a broomstick?" asked Magnus.

"No, not really" said Hermione.

"Tough, because you've got to"

Gingerly, Hermione sat on the front of the broomstick. Tom and Jerry positioned Harry between themselves and Hermione, while Duchess sat at the back. Hermione pushed down on the floor with her feet and the broomstick rose a few feet off the ground.

"Now go!" barked Magnus. No sooner had he said those words was he knocked aside by Nagini as she slithered at speed towards her escaping victims. Hermione kicked the broomstick into life and it shot forward towards an open window, just as Nagini lunged. Tom and Jerry soon felt the bitterly cold wind nip at their faces as they cleared the window. But as they looked down they saw something far worse: Nagini was also with them, dangling in the air as the broomstick flew through the sky. She may even have looked comical were her fangs not embedded in Harry's leg.

"No!" bellowed Tom, whipping out his wand. "Sectusempra"

The spell found its mark. Nagini may have not bled from it, but it was still enough to cause enough pain to cry out in pain, and let go of Harry. Within seconds, Harry Potter and his friends were getting further and further away. The next thing she knew, she was swallowed up by the branches of a snow covered thorn-bush.

Nagini slithered out of the bush, and looked up at the sky, thorns poking into all parts of her. She could not stay long out here, her cold blooded body would go into torpor if she did. But her master would be here soon, he could take her somewhere warm. But hotter still was the hate Nagini felt for her master's enemies, especially the cat and the mouse. Now not only had they escaped her a second time, but they had also wounded and, even worse, humiliated her.

Nagini shivered with bloodlust and the cold. The next time she saw that cat and mouse, they would not escape her. Their third confrontation with her would be their last. She would make sure of that.

* * *

Hermione alighted by the tent in the forest. As soon as she did so, Tom and Jerry pulled Harry off the broomstick and lay him out on the ground.

"Not there" said Hermione. "It's freezing and wet down there. Move him into the tent" Tom and Jerry did as they were told, Duchess following close behind.

Once Harry was in the tent, Hermione tended to his leg. In the area where Nagini had bitten him, blood was soaking his trousers. And once Hermione had pulled off Harry's trousers (fortunately he had passed out on the way to the tent) they could see that an ugly, black bruise was forming around two puncture wounds. Wasting no time, Hermione screwed the top off the bottle of dittany she had brought and poured some on to Harry's wound. Unfortunately, although the bruise began to die down a bit, after a while it stopped doing so. It still looked dangerously large. Hermione applied the dittany again, but this time it had no effect at all.

"I don't understand it!" cried Hermione. "This stuff never fails, why isn't it working?" The hysteria was rising in her voice, Tom and Jerry both knew that she was as frightened as they were. If it kept going like this, she might even do something unthinkable for Hermione Granger and have a nervous breakdown.

"Wait, I've got an idea" said Jerry. Before anyone could inquire as to what it was, he ran over to Hermione's bigger-on-the-inside bag and jumped in. He emerged several moments later carrying th phial Dumbledore had left him and Tom.

"Horcruxes are nasty, like You Know Who. So that means it takes a special kind of something to stop them, right Hermione?"

"Yes"

"Well, maybe the reason the dittany ain't working is because Missy Hissy back there is a horcrux. But this might." He lifted the phial above his head.

"Phoenix tears" said Tom, a look of realisation appearing on his face.

"Care to do the honours" said Jerry. Tom grabbed the phial, unscrewed the lid and carefully tipped some of the contents on to Harry's snakebite wound. For a moment, the phoenix tears glistened and sparkled on the surface, then they sank in. For a moment afterwards, nothing happened, then, much to universal feelings of relief, the bruise began to subside. Minutes later, Harry began to cough and splutter awake.

"H.P, H.P, you're back!" cried Jerry.

"What happened?" gasped Harry. While Hermione explained, Tom turned to Jerry.

"Good thinking there, using phoenix tears."

"Nice quick movements on your part" Jerry complimented back. Tom smiled.

"Listen Jerry, I know things between us have been really bad, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry. You're right, it wasn't fair of me to not pay any attention to you, when you've ben my friend for all these years."

"I'm sorry too" said Jerry. "I shouldn't have given you a hard time about your woman. After all, she does deserve some loving after living with Toad Face Umbridge for all those years."

"Apology accepted, Jerry" said Tom.

"Likewise" said Jerry.

Over in a corner, Duchess watched and overheard the conversation and smiled. At last, things were resolved, at least, between the animal members of the group.


	27. One Down

It was a cold winter's night in the forest. A chill breeze wafted snow all about the outside of the tent, its inhabitants were sleeping roughly. Jerry was pulling as much of his bedcovers to his body as he could, but even that couldn't seem to stop the bitter cold from seeping into his skin and chilling his bones.

As he tossed and turned, Jerry saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he reached for his wand and sat bolt upright, in case it was a death eater. But instead, he saw Harry leaving the tent, with the horcrux. Something was clearly afoot, under normal circumstances, Harry would never leave the tent on his own, particularly not after what happened the last time he had strayed away from his friends, and particularly not now that Nagini had probably told Voldemort about what had happened at Godric's Hollow.

Jerry leapt out of bed and followed Harry outside. Predictably for a British winter's night, it was pitch black.

"Lumos" said Jerry. As the light appeared at the end of his wand, he saw that a similar one had appeared at the end of Harry's. But there was also another light, a strange, pale ethereal one. It put Jerry in mind of a patronus, and as he got closer to Harry, he could see that it was one, a doe. But who's could it be? Jerry knew that Harry's patronus was a stag, but this one didn't have antlers. And nobody he knew had a doe patronus, for all he knew this could be an enemy's.

And yet, there was something about the graceful way in which the patronus lead Harry on which gave off a sense of innocence, and made Jerry wonder if perhaps this patronus belonged to someone trying to help Harry. Nevertheless, he continued to trail him, one couldn't be too careful in these times.

At last, the doe stopped in the middle of a frozen pond. She turned around and looked back at Harry, then stamped her hoof on the ice once, before vanishing into thin air. Harry cautiously walked across to where she had been standing, Jerry prepared himself to cast 'Wingardium Leviosa' on Harry in case the ice broke under his weight.

Harry looked down at the ice and gasped, then he pointed his wand at it and whispered "Accio Sword". At this, Jerry gasped himself, on the inside. Could it be that perhaps Harry had found the actual sword of Gryffindor, or was it just another fake. If so that might explain why it wasn't being summoned. Harry didn't seem to think so however.

"Diffindo" he said. The ice in front of his feet cracked and began to drift apart. Harry sat down on the ice and began to take his clothes off. At this, Jerry could not keep quiet.

"H.P!" he hissed, running out on to the ice. Harry turned towards him just as he removed his coat.

"Jerry, what are you doing here?"

"Stopping you doing something really stupid, that's what" said Jerry. "This ain't no time or place or get hypothermia."

"The sword of Gryffindor is in that pond" said Harry, as he continued to undress himself. "Believe me, I don't want to do this either, but it won't be summoned, so I have to."

Jerry looked down as the hole in the ice Harry had made. Sure enough, there amongst the pond weed, with its rubied hilt glinting in the light from Jerry's wand, was the sword.

"Can't you just put your arm in and take it out?"

"No, it's too deep" said Harry, now shirtless and removing his trousers. "I've got to dive in, I'm sorry."

"Well at least take that thing off first" said Jerry, pointing to the horcrux around Harry's neck. Harry didn't answer, but instead pulled off his socks and dressed only in his underpants, dived into the pond. Jerry rushed back to avoid being splashed by a tidal wave of icy water. As soon as he could though, he hurried back to the edge of the hole in the ice.

"You're gonna get killed chasing after that darn sword!" he shouted down at Harry.

And then, in a cruel twist of irony, as soon as Harry's had touched the sword, Jerry saw the chain of the locket tighten around his neck. Harry squirmed and thrashed about under water, but he did not let go of the sword.

"Let it go!' cried Jerry in horror. "Just let it go!" But Harry could not hear him. Jerry pointed his wand at the locket's chain.

"Relashio!" he cried. It had no effect.

"Ok, ok, I'm coming in there!" cired Jerry. He dropped his wand and prepared for the bone chilling dive. But before he could do so, someone else dived in instead. Someone much larger, a human, a human with red hair. For a moment, Jerry didn't dare believe it. He rubbed his eyes and looked down through the hole in the ice again. No doubt about it, it was Ron!. Ron had dived into the freezing lake himself and was now wrapping his arms around Harry's chest, pulling him to the surface. Jerry backed away as Ron dragged Harry out on to the ice, then back to dry land. To Jerry's amazement, Harry had still managed to keep hold of the sword. He leapt on to Harry's chest and started leaping up and down.

"Come on H.P, come back to life! Come on, you did it when that psycho snake bit you, you can do it now!"

At last Harry coughed and spluttered back into consicousness.

"Are you mental?" said Ron, speaking for the first time. At the sound of his voice, Harry sat bolt upright, Jerry was sent tumbling on to the ice.

"Why the hell didn't you take that thing off first before you dived in?" Ron continued, pointing at the locket, which had now ceased its attempts to strangle Harry.

"That's what I said" said Jerry. "But anyways, I think we're the ones who should be asking the questions! Where did you come from? Where the heck have you been? Do you have any idea what we've been through since you abandoned us?" Jerry's questions were increasingly becoming more and more angry as the pain from that night when Ron had departed came back to him. But just as he opened his mouth again, it was Harry who asked the next question.

"Was...was that y-you?"

"Was that me what?" asked Ron

"Was that you who cast the patronus?"

"No, I thought you did." Jerry slapped his hand to his forehead. This was Ron alright.

"Mine's a stag"

"Oh yeah, I thought it was missing something."

"Yeah, like antlers" said Jerry sarcastically. But then he realised that he was being unnecessarily mean to Ron. After all, he had just saved Harry from the horcrux, and now they had the sword, apparently the real one at that. He went over to the horcrux and grabbed the chain, now loose around Harry's neck. Gently he pulled it off and dragged it over to Ron.

"Say, R.W, since you were the one who just saved Harry, would you like to be the one to destroy this thing?"

"That's actually a good idea" said Harry as he redressed himself.

"No, I'm sorry, I can't" said Ron. "You don't know what wearing that thing was like for me! I swear it affected me worse than it did you or Hermione. It made me think things, feel things that I would never feel normally. Everytime I wore it I could only think about how scared I was for my family, about death eaters, You-Know-Who, spiders."

"And that's why you should be the one who destroys it" said Harry, now fully dressed again.

"Yeah, think of it as payback for all those nasty things it did to you" added Jerry. Harry got up, went over to Ron and held out his sword bearing hand. Gingerly, Ron took the sword. Jerry lifted the horcrux and placed it on a conveniently flat-topped rock.

"Ok, now I'm going to open it, and when I do, be prepared for anything" said Harry. Ron nodded and held the sword above his head. Harry stared at the locket and spoke in the strangled hiss that was parseltongue. Jerry cringed. He hated the snake language, it sent shivers down his spine.

Then, with a similar sounding hiss and a click, the locket opened. Ron pointed the tip of the sword's blade at it. Then suddenly, it spoke.

"I have seen your heart, Ronald Weasley, and it is mine!"

Jerry jumped at the sound of that voice, the cold, hissing voice that could only belong to Voldemort.

"All the times you have worn this locket around your neck, I have peered into the deepest parts of your soul. I have seen all of your fears, and you are right to have them" the voice continued.

"Don't listen to it, Ron!" screamed Harry and Jerry in unision.

"Do you know how disappointed your mother was when you were born?" the voice continued. "After all those sons she craved a daughter, but instead she got you! Why do you think she paid more attention to your sister when her time to go to Hogwarts came than she did you? Why do you think she always pays so much attention to your best friend? She lusts after the fame he carries, the type of fame you can never hope to have!"

"Ron, destroy it!" cried Jerry.

"And your mother is not the only one who considers you second best" the voice went on. A pair of green bubbles rose out of the open locket and morphed into hideous caricatures of Harry and Hermione, with the same red, slit pupilled eyes of Voldemort.

"Why did you come back?" hissed Riddle Harry. "We were better off without you. Look at that sword you hold over your worthless head. I found that, me, and I did it without your help!"

"Do you see how truly spectacular he is?" said Riddle Hermione. "What a wonderful man he is. Why would I choose you over him? You are nothing to me, nothing, nothing!"

At this, Ron bellowed in fury and brought the sword down on the locket. The tip of it shattered the glass and brass of it with an almighty crack, as if the very rock on which the locket rested had been broken. The false Harry and Hermione disappeared, and a hissing, screeching scream emanated from the horcrux. It spewed a black, viscous liquid that could only be the piece of Voldemort's soul that it once protected.

And then the screeching stopped, and all that remained was a broken, twisted locket lying on a rock on the shores of a frozen lake. Jerry climbed on to Ron's shoulder and looked down at the horcrux with contempt.

"You can't hurt anyone ever again!" he said, and spat on the broken locket. Harry walked up to them and picked up what had once been a horcrux.

"One down...

"...four to go" said Ron.


	28. Malfoy Manor

**Hi guys, sorry it's taken so long. But Happy New Year, and to celebrate it, here is another long awaited chapter.**

* * *

"Do you remember that time we got taken to Malfoy Manor?" said Old Tom in the present.

"Oh yeah" said Old Jerry. "Who would have guessed that Chinese fairy stories and a visit to Luna's crazy dad would land us in so much trouble."

"Not to mention you saying Voldemort's name" Tom reminded him.

* * *

The broomstick carrying the six travellers touched down in a field.

They had recently visited Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father, after Hermione had found in her book of fairy tales the same symbol that had been on Xenophilius' shirt at the wedding and in the graveyard in Godric's Hollow. He had told them that the symbol represented a trio of brothers who had had a gift given to each of them as a con by Death, two of whom had lost their lives as a result of possesing these gifts.

"Typical" Jerry had said while Hermione was reading the story. "Death's mother tells him to put on a big scary hooded coat and eat his beans, but she can't be bothered to tell him it's not good to cheat people."

The three gifts in question had been the Elder Wand (represented by the straight line), the Resurrection Stone (the circle), and the Invisibility Cloak (the triangle). When brought together, these three gifts could make one the master of death, as well as grant immortality.

Amidst all this excitement, Xenophilius had slipped into another room (allegedly on his way to the toilet), and had come back looking very pale and scared looking, which neither Tom nor Jerry felt was because he had just taken a particularly traumatic dump. Also, Luna had not made an appearance the whole time. Xenophilius had claimed that she was fishing for some weird and undoubtedly inedible-by-anyone-else's-standards fish called Plimpies.

It later transpired at Luna had actually been captured by the Death Eaters due to things her father had been writing in the Quibbler about Harry, and that his so-called visit to the toilet was actually an excuse to send an owl to the Ministry. Soon the Death Eaters had come knocking at the door and the travellers had only just escaped detection and possibly death by the skin of their teeth.

"That lying old sneak" said Ron.

"It's not really his fault" said Harry. "The Death Eaters kidnapped Luna, he was only doing what thought had he had to to get her back. It's just our bad luck that that was what he chose to do."

"He nearly got us captured by Death Eaters and you're defending him?" said Ron incredulously.

"I might have done the same thing if I was in his shoes and someone I loved had been captured by Vol-

"Don't say his name!" cried Ron. "I'm sorry, but can't we just please keep on calling him You-Know-Who please? It's just that it's-

"Oh for crying out loud!" shouted Jerry, interrupting Ron mid-sentence. "You wizards are such wimps sometimes! It's just a name, that's all. Dumbledore always said fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself. And he was right, a name can't hurt you. Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort, see? Nobody's hurt! Nobody's died just because I said 'Voldemort'. I'm telling you nothing bad can happen just because someone says 'Voldemort'."

At that moment, there came three loud banging sounds and three dark shadowy figures appeared. Two were wearing skull-like masks, the third with his long, shaggy hair and the savage look in his eye was instantly recognisable as Fenrir Greyback. Hermione got out her wand and cast a spell at Harry's face, causing him to fall over. As the Death Eaters and Greyback headed for them, the first Death Eater got out a wand and swished it at Tom, Jerry and Duchess, enveloping them all in a floating sphere like the one Umbridge had imprisoned Jerry in two years ago.

"Nothing bad can happen, eh?" said Tom sarcastically, glaring down at Jerry.

"Well how was I supposed to know this would happen?" said Jerry defensively. "It's never happened before" he added.

"The name is tabooed, Jerry" Duchess explained. "Anyone who says it alerts His followers. It's how they find members of the Order of the Phoenix. Normally they're the only ones who use His name."

"Well, you might had said something about this sooner, Duchess" said Jerry.

As the animal half of the group argued, the Death Eaters blasted the wands out of the hands of the human half. One of them grabbed Harry and hoisted him up. Tom gasped as he saw him. Hermione's spell had disfigured the side of Harry's face, so that it was all swollen and his eye was closed. Hopefully it would prevent the Death Eaters from recognising him.

"'Ere, ain't this Harry Potter?" said the Death Eater

Maybe not.

"Yeah, yeah it is" said Greyback, coming over to Harry. "Look at that scar on his forehead." Tom groaned, now they really were in trouble. Nobody else had a scar like Harry's.

"That ain't Harry Potter" said the second Death Eater. "Look at that face. That ain't what the picture in the prophet showed!"

Tom sighed with relief. Evidently some Death Eaters really were as stupid as they looked.

""You blitherin' half-wit, you" snapped the first Death Eater. "Course it's Harry Potter. Who else has a scar like that?"

"He could be just some kid muckin' around" protested the second Death Eater. "He might have just drawn it on."

"Has someone put a confundus charm on you?"

This argument might have gone on for much longer had Greyback not ended it with a long, wolf-like howl.

"Enough!" he snarled. "Stop arguing like a pair of kids, you two!" He reached down and hoisted Hermione up with one filthy paw. "Now we don't know if these are Potter and friends, but I say we take them to see someone who will."

"Malfoy Manor" said the first Death Eater.

Greyback nodded. He turned to Hermione.

"And you'd better hope I don't feel like a snack on the way there" he slobbered, licking his lips as he did so.

"Oh great" said Jerry. "This day just gets better and better, doesn't it?"

* * *

Presently, the six travellers found themselves being dragged up the gravel driveway towards Malfoy Manor. As was to be expected from a family as hideously wealthy as the Malfoys, it was a very elaborate and grand looking house, almost like any other large country house in England. But as was also to be expected from the Malfoys, it was quite intimidating. On the far end of both sides of the house were two tower like structure, the roofs of which were pointed so they looked more like spearheads. Every window was slotted and the ones with lights shining through looked more like glaring eyes. Lining the sides of the driveway were hedges of yew (appropriate given the plant's associations with death), and the albino peacocks that sat on top of them put Tom and Jerry in mind of white vultures, with their hunched-over posture and beady eyes which followed them all the way up the driveway.

As they neared the front door, it swung open to reveal a large drawing room with a crystal chandelier hanging from the roof and a roaring fire filling the room with an almost suffocating smoky smell. On the polished floor lay a large tigerskin rug, the head of which had an expression on it that looked like the animal had been killed in an extremely gruesome and unpleasant way. Asleep in a large chair in the centre of the room was Lucius Malfoy, with a shaggy Afghan hound lying on either side of him. As soon as the bubble containing Tom and Duchess entered the room, they both got up and started snarling at it.

"What is this?" snapped an impatient voice. Tom and Jerry looked to their left to see a tall, blonde, tired looking woman who looked not unlike Bellatrix sitting on a chaise longue by the fireplace. Her blue eyes were glaring at the newcomers with the sort of disdain that the Malfoys reserved for those they hated and viewed as inferiors. Tom and Jerry recognised this woman, they had seen her briefly in Madam Malkin's last year. This was Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother.

"What are you doing here? Get out of my house, werewolf!" she snapped at Greyback.

"Apologies, Mrs. Malfoy" said Greyback. "But we have prisoners here that we feel need identification."

"You dare to use my house as an interrogation room!"

Greyback snarled at Narcissa, showing all of his yellow, pointed teeth.

"I'd watch myself if I were you, Mrs. Malfoy. You and your family are already in the Dark Lord's bad books, it could look very bad if you had Harry Potter in your house and you threw him out!"

"What's going on?" came a sharp voice from the next room. The door leading to it opened and Bellatrix came into the drawing room. As she saw the newcomers she stopped and gasped.

"Dear God, it isn't? It isn't Harry Potter and friends?"

"Well that's what we'd like to know, Madam Lestrange" said the first Death Eater. "Seeing as we're the ones what captured them and the ones who stand to gain a hefty reward in gold."

"Gold? I'll give you gold, you filthy scavenger!" shrieked Bellatrix. She took out her wand and cast a spell at the Death Eaters and Greyback.

"Serpensortia Triplus!" she cried. With a bang, three black snakes shot out of her wand and wrapped themselves around her victim's throats. Within seonds, Greyback and the two Death Eaters were writhing around on the floor, trying desperately to dislodge the snakes. Tom cringed at the sight, he knew exactly how it felt to be on the recieving end of that spell.

Meanwhile, Bellatrix turned and strolled over to the prisoners. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Harry.

"Cissy, go and fetch Draco."

"You don't give me orders, sister!" snapped Narcissa. "Not in my own house!" Bellatrix snarled and pointed her wand at Narcissa, who immediately seemed to go pale in the face at this.

"The situation is far graver than you can ever understand, Cissy. The Dark Lord is growing more and more frenzied in his search for Harry Potter. He's still not entirely happy that it was Snape who killed Dumbledore and not Draco, as he had originally planned If you want your son to still be alive when all this is over, you will go and fetch him now. Do I make myself clear?"

Narcissa nodded meekly and then left the room. Watching her go, Tom and Jerry felt real sympathy for her. Imagine being threatened like that by your own sister? Looking at the chair where Lucius Malfoy now lay sleeping, Tom and Jerry noticed that he really did look worse for the normally sleek, glossy blonde hair was now matted and dirty. A thin layer of grey stubble covered his chin and dark bags hung under his eyes. Then, when Narcissa returned with Draco, they could see that he had also been changed for the worse by being in Voldemort's service. Gone was the pride and arrogance that Tom and Jerry knew from Malfoy, and instead came this timid and nervous looking boy, the look on his face making it clear that he would rather be anywhere else but here.

Bellatrix took Malfoy's arm and lead him over to Harry.

"Now, Draco" she said as if she were addressing a small child. "Supposedly this is Harry Potter, and certainly the presence of that annoying cat and mouse would appear to confirm it. But if we call the Dark Lord and it turns out to not be him, then we'll all be killed. So take a good look at him and tell us, is it Harry Potter?"

"Harry Potter?" said Lucius, starting awake in his chair. "Did someone say something about Harry Potter?"

"Go back to sleep, Lucius!" hissed Bellatrix. Lucius ignored his sister-in-law and stood next to his son. He stared at Harry's disfigured face, then turned back to Draco.

"Draco, if this is Harry Potter, then all will be right again. The Dark Lord will forgive us and everything will be the way it was. So for once, listen to your aunt and tell us, is it him?"

Draco's eyes strayed to Tom and Jerry's bubble, almost as if asking for clarification. Jerry shook his head, desperately. Malfoy turned back to Harry.

"I...I don't know" he said after a long pause.

"Don't tell me you don't know!" snapped Bellatrix. "You're obviously not trying hard enough." She reached foward and violently grabbed Harry by the collar of his shirt.

"No" gasped Hermione, starting forward. As she did so Tom, Jerry, Duchess and Bellatrix all saw the glinting handle of the sword of Gryffindor poking out of her pocket. Bellatrix gasped in shock, she threw Harry to the ground and grabbed Hermione by the throat. Ron tried to rush to her aid but was grabbed by Lucius Malfoy.

"Where did you get this sword?" snarled Bellatrix. "This sword is supposed to be in my vault at Gringotts. How did you get hold of it, you filthy mudblood?"

"Don't you talk to her like that!" shouted Ron. Bellatrix glared at him, then turned to Greyback and pointed her wand at him.

"Epera Evanesca". The snake turned to ashes and Greyback sat up, clutching his throat and gasping.

"Move these prisoners down to the cellar, Greyback" ordered Bellatrix, gesturing with her wand to Harry, Ron and Tom and Jerry's bubble. "But don't harm them, yet."

"What about the mudblood?" asked Greyback, rubbing his throat.

"The mudblood and I have some unfinished business to attend to" said Bellatrix, pointing her wand at Hermione's throat. "However, if she dies under questioning, bring me the blood traitor, Weasley."

No, no, Hermione!" cried Ron as he and Harry were bundled over Greyback's shoulder. The werewolf reached over to Tom and Jerry's bubble and grasped it in one filthy paw. Then they were all escorted down to the cellar. As he threw them in and shut the door, Greyback put his face to the barred window.

"Reckon she might let me have a munch of the juicy, tasty girl afterwards. Don't you?" he sneered, salivating as he did so.

"You're sick!" shouted Jerry as Greyback headed up the short flight of stairs that lead to the cellar. "You should be put down, you manky dog!"

"Funny, there was a time when you used to quite like dogs" said Tom.

Ron threw himself at the door. From above, there came the sounds of Bellatrix torturing Hermione.

"Where did you get this sword from? Tell me!"

"We found it, we found it. I swear!" sobbed Hermione.

"Your'e lying. Crucio!"

From above there came the sounds of horrified, agonised screaming from Hermione as Bellatrix's wicked spell wracked her body with pain.

"Hermione, Hermione!" cried Ron, tears streaming down his face as he desperately pounded on the door.

"Shut up down there!" someone shouted.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tom saw Harry take something out of his pocket. Turning around he saw that it was a jagged piece of glass. Harry was staring at it intensely.

"Help us, please!" he begged. Before Tom could question his owner on the practicalities of asking a piece of broken glass for help, he noticed something moving in the darkness of the back of the cellar.

"Harry, Ron, Tom, Jerry, is that you?" came an ephemeral, familiar voice. At the sound of it, Jerry swivelled his head around.

"Lovegood?" A short, silvery blonde girl stepped out into the relative light of the front of the cellar, overshadowed by a figure who was so gaunt and disheveled that it was only through several moments of scrutiny that Tom and Jerry were able to recognise him. And when they did, they gasped.

"Mr...Mr. Ollivander?" they stammered. The old wandmaker looked up at them. Gone was the warmth and fine clothes of the man who had given them their wands all those years ago, and instead was this frightened thing, huddled in rags and shivering with his long, grey hair all matted.

"Mr Ollivander, what happened to you?" asked Harry, Tom and Jerry in unision.

"He...he wanted information about...about...about the Eder wand" stammered Ollivander. "But I wouldn't tell him, then he...he..." he turned away and broke down in terrified sobs.

"We'll tend to him later" said Jerry. "Right now we need to get out of here." He turned to Luna.

"Hey, Lovegood. Can you get us outta here please?"

"Certainly, Jerry" said Luna. Casually, as if she were not in the cellar of a family of Death Eaters, she took out her wand and waved it at the bubble, which instantly vanished.

"Good to see you haven't lost your touch, Lovegood" said Jerry as he landed on the floor. He turned and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Tom. Jerry didn't answer but instead squeezed under the door. A few moments later there came a click and it swung open, Jerry clinging on to the handle.

"It only opens on the outside" said Jerry. "I noticed that when we came in." He leapt down to the floor. "Now let's go save Hermione."

Just then there was a loud crack. All present looked to where the sound had come from to see Dobby standing there.

"Dobby?" said Harry in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"No time to explain, Harry Potter" said Dobby. "Dobby has been sent to rescue you, to take you somewhere safe!"

"Great" said Jerry. He scuttled over to Dobby and pointed at Luna and Ollivander. "Take them first, they're in greater need of rescuing than we are at the moment."

"Take them to Bill and Fleur's, Shell Cottage" added Ron.

"Yes, thank you, Ron. Shell Cottage."

"Most certainly, Ron and Jerry" said Dobby, saluting. He took Luna and Ollivander's hand.

"And Dobby" said Jerry, "just before you go, thanks for coming to our rescue."

"You're welcome" said Dobby with a wide smile. Then with another crack, he vanished, taking Luna and Ollivander with him.

"Hey, stop right there, I'm coming down" came a raspy, squeaky voice. Wormtail appeared at the top of the stairs, taking out his wand he dashed down towards the cellar. Tom stepped forward and crouched down on all fours.

"You're mine, Rat Man" he growled. Then with a yowl that only a cat could make, he lunged for Wormtail, colliding head on with his face. The small, rotund man was sent falling backwards on to the stairs. Tom threw intense punches at him, with each blow a crunch sounded . At last, Wormtail lay unconscious, Tom stood up and looked down at him.

"I should have done that four years ago" he spat. He took the arm that bore Wormtail's silver hand and placed it on his fallen enemy's chest.

"Now we can make it look like the hand did it" said Tom.

Suddenly a low growl came from behind him. Tom turned to see one of Lucius Malfoy's Afghan hounds standing at the top of the stairs, bearing its teeth at him. He screamed and ran to hide behind Harry.

"Dogs" he groaned, peeking out from behind his owner. "Why did it have to be dogs?"

"My hero" said Duchess sarcastically.

The dog turned away from the prisoners and started barking loudly.

"Harry, do something, before the whole house comes running!" cried Tom.

"Hairlossus!" cried Harry. Instantly the dog's hair fell out in its entirety. It took one look at its naked body and ran off yelping down the hallway.

"Right" said Harry, putting his wand away. "Now, let's go save Hermione, seeing as we've wasted enough time already."

Together the five friends sprinted up the staircase out of the cellar and down the hall towards the drawing room. As they neared it, they heard raised voices.

"I'm growing tired of your lies, mudblood. Tell me where you got this sword from or I will kill you this time."

Ron dashed ahead of the others and threw open the door that lead to the drawing room. He, Harry, Tom, Jerry and Duchess were greeted with the sight of Bellatrix yanking Hermione's head back by the hair, and holding her wand to her throat. Hermione was bleeding from several wounds on her face and neck. As the former prisoners entered the room, Bellatrix looked up and glared at them.

"Take your hands off her, you bitch!" bellowed Ron.

"You! How did you get out?" demanded Bellatrix.

"I'd like to plead guilty to that" said Jerry, taking out his wand and pointing it at her.

"Draco, Cissy, attack!" commanded Bellatrix. Malfoy and his mother took out their wands, but their opponents got their first.

"Expelliarmus" shouted Harry and Tom, casting their spells at Malfoy and Narcissa respectively. Malfoy's wand flew out of his hand, and Harry caught it as if it were a golden snitch. However, Narcissa dodged Tom's spell and kept her wand.

"How dare you attack my son!" she screamed. She prepared to retaliate, but then there was a crack and she was sent flying across the room. She slammed into the wall, slid to the floor and lay still with her eyes closed.

While Draco ran to his mother's side, Harry, Tom and Jerry turned to see Dobby standing in the doorway.

"You shall not harm Harry Potter" he stated stoutly.

"Dobby!" snarled Bellatrix removing her wand from Hermione's throat. Hermione took her chance and ran to join her friends, Ron wrapped his arms around her protectively.

"You cheeky little monkey. How dare you attack your mistress!" screamed Bellatrix.

"She is not my mistress anymore" said Dobby. "Dobby is a free elf now!" He pointed his finger at the chandelier and with a snap, the cord was severed and the great glass thing came tumbling down. Bellatrix was crushed beneath it before she could even begin to cast a spell.

"Come on" cried Dobby, holding his arms out. Harry and Ron took a hand each. Ron kept his arm tight around Hermione, and Tom kept his around Duchess. Jerry made to grab on to one of his friends.

"Sorry Jerry" said Dobby. "I can't take more than this, I'll have to come back for you!"

"I'll see you soon, little buddy" added Tom reassuringly.

"No you won't!" groaned Bellatrix's voice. She raised herself up from the floor and produced a silver knife from her pocket. Holding it like a throwing dart, she hurled it at Dobby. With yet another crack, Dobby and the others disappeared. But in the split second before they did so, Jerry saw the blade strike the elf in the chest.

And in that moment, he knew it could very well be a long, long time before he saw Tom or any of the others again.


	29. Escape from Malfoy Manor

Jerry stared at the space where Dobby and the others had vanished, in sheer shock and horror at what had just happened. Bellatrix seized her chance, crawling out from under the chandelier, she swiped Jerry up in her hand.

"You wretched, miserable rodent!" she hissed. "I should kill you, right here and now."

"Then do it, you miserable murderess" spat Jerry. "After all, you've killed so many others. I was beginning to feel left out."

Just as Bellatrix raised her wand, there came the sound of a door opening. All present turned to see Lucius Malfoy enter the room, a satisfied look on his face.

"Well, I've summoned the Dark Lord" he said proudly. "He's on his way here now."

"Lucius, you fool!" screamed Bellatrix. "Why did you summon him? What on earth will we do when he arrives here and all we have to show him is this?" She thrust the hand holding Jerry at Lucius. A shocked look appeared on his face.

"But, but the prisoners? What-

"They escaped, Lucius!" said Bellatrix, cutting him off mid sentence. "Thanks to your former house elf!"

"Well...at least we have the mouse" said Lucius. "He'll be able to tell us where they've gone, won't you?" he added, leering at Jerry.

"I'll never talk" said Jerry resolutely. "Not to you, not to Bellatrix here and certainly not to your precious Voldy."

In response to this, Bellatrix tightened her grip. Jerry gasped as the breath was crushed out of him.

"Gently, Bellatrix" said Lucius. "We won't be able to tell us anything if he's dead. Once he's told us where the prisoners have gone, I shall feed him to the dogs. But for now we need him alive."

"Feed him to the dogs? That's not good enough. This mouse is mine to finish!"

"Fine, do what you like. I don't care." Lucius turned to his son.

"Draco, take this mouse and put him somewhere secure. And make sure he doesn't escape."

"Yes, Father" said Draco, taking Jerry from Bellatrix. Her gaze followed Jerry as Malfoy took him from the drawing room.

"Remember what I said, mouse. Once we have the information we need from you, you're mine!"

"Well I'd better _not_ give you the information you need then" retorted Jerry.

Draco took Jerry upstairs and then after passing down a long corridor lined with doors, he opened the one at the end and entered the room. He crossed over to a rusty old bird cage and placed Jerry in it. His prisoner turned around and looked at him.

"Malfoy, please. You don't have to do this" said Jerry. "I can see that you and your family have been through hell since Voldy rose to power, but it's not too late. You can still join the Order of the Phoenix, you can still leave the Dark Lord's service."

"No I can't" snapped Malfoy, looking down at the ground. "And even if we could leave Him, the Order of the Phoenix is finished! There's nowhere else for us to go" he said in a much more dejected tone. He sighed and waved his wand at the bird cage door. Out of thin air a lock appeared on it.

"Don't even try using 'alohamora' on that lock" said Malfoy. "It's enchantment proof." And with that he turned and headed for the door.

"Why didn't you tell her?" asked Jerry.

"Who?"

"Your aunt, Bellatrix. Why didn't you tell her it was Harry? You knew it was him, so why didn't you say so?"

Malfoy didn't answer but instead left the room, closing the door behind him. There came a loud click as it was locked.

Jerry turned and sat down dejectedly. Now he really was in trouble. Not only was he separated from Tom, Duchess and all the others, but he was also trapped in a cage in the house of their enemies. Even worse, Voldemort was on his way here. If Bellatrix had shown so little mercy to her prisoners, Jerry knew that Voldemort would show absolutely none. He might even bring that freaky snake with him, and that would really be a fine way to go. Tortured to death by a deranged dark wizard and then fed to the snake that had lusted after Jerry's blood for ages.

There was no time to waste, Jerry stood up and pointed his wand out through the bars of the cage. He closed his eyes and thought of two things. The first was gorgonzola cheese, the second was what he wanted to happen next.

"Expecto Patronum" he whispered. Silently, the lion patronus appeared out of the tip of Jerry's wand. It padded three times around the room, then hurried out of a very small window at the far end of the room.

Jerry watched his patronus go and hoped it would reach its destination before Voldemort reached him.

* * *

Tom lifted his head and spat out a mouthful of wet sand. He heard the crashing of waves on a shoreline and smelt the salty tinge of the sea on the air.

Looking around him, he could see that they had arrived on a beach on a cold, overcast day. Huge ocean swells were coming in off the sea and pounding the land, in the distance stood a little cottage which seemed to be made almost entirely out of seashells.

"Tom" came Duchess's voice from behind him. He turned around to see her sitting next to an unconscious, prostrate Hermione, a worried look on her face. Ron was crouched over Hermione, fear etched on to his face.

"Tom, she's badly hurt" Duchess explained. "Bellatrix did some real damage here. And we're out of dittany!"

Instinctively, Tom took out the phial he had inherited from Dumbledore. He went over to Hermione.

"Phoenix tears to the rescue" he said. "Now where does she need it most?"

"Around the neck, mostly" said Duchess, gesturing with her paw to numerous scratches (some alarmingly deep), at the base of Hermione's neck. Tom unscrewed the lid of the phial and poured the phoenix tears all over Hermione's wounds. Seconds later, they seeped in and the wounds healed. Where once there was blood, there was undamaged skin once more. Hermione groaned and stirred. Slowly her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh my God, Hermione!" cried Ron, tears of joy streaming down his face as he hugged her.

"Where...where are we?" said Hermione, in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.

"Search me" said Tom. "All I know is its a beach and the weather is terrible."

"Guys, guys, help me!" came Harry's voice. Looking down towards the sea, Tom could see his owner kneeling down, next to him lay the limp form of Dobby, from Dobby's chest protruded the hilt of a knife.

Tom dashed down to Dobby's side and knelt down next to him. He positioned the phial above him and poured the phoenix tears.

Except this time, no tears came out. Tom looked at the phial, to his horror it was completely empty.

"Oh no!" he gasped. "I must have used it all on Hermione!"

As Harry looked over to the cottage in the distance and cried desperately for help, Tom looked down at Dobby. The elf turned and faced him, his face looked alarmingly pale. Their eyes met and a small smile crept over Dobby's face which made him look quite peaceful.

"Thomas Cat" he murmured.

"Hey Dobby, how you doing?"

"I've been better" said Dobby, the smile did not leave his face.

"Thank you, for saving us" said Tom, realising that this was his last chance to say it. Dobby said nothing but his smile grew wider. Then he turned away from Tom and looked up at Harry.

"Dobby, please don't die. Stay with me!" said Harry frantically.

"Harry Potter" said Dobby weakly. He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly.

And with that, the house elf's last breath left him.

Harry gazed down at the tiny, lifeless body lying on the sand before him, then he looked to the sky and wailed a heart rending cry of sorrow and grief for another good friend lost.

Tom turned away from the sad sight and looked down at the ground, tears filling up in his eyes. When he next felt he could face it, he looked up at Ron, Hermione, Duchess and Jerry.

Then suddenly, he realised: Jerry wasn't there!

In another moment of horror, Tom remembered that Dobby had had to leave Jerry behind at Malfoy Manor. And now he was dead, which meant that not only had one friend been lost, but another friend, Tom's best friend, had been lost too.

Tom could no longer resist it. He fell to his knees, looked up at the sky and let loose a cry that was every bit as sorrowful and filled with grief as Harry's.

* * *

In his hole in Godric's Hollow, Magnus sat very still in a tiny armchair.

This was not unusual for him. He rarely ventured outside of the safety of his hole unless it was to collect food. And in today's climes, he felt even less inclined to do so, especially after that snake had turned up in this very house on Christmas Eve night.

What was unusual for him was that he was deep in thought, about the Potter boy who he had helped to rescue.

Sixteen years after their deaths, Magnus remembered the Potters well. He remembered their first meeting, it had been when they had walked into their house for the very first time. Back then he had lived alone in a hole in the skirting boards of the house and was very unused to house guests, particularly ones that came into the house with a fat ginger cat trotting close behind them. Magnus had been leaving the kitchen with a hunk of mouldy cheese when he had seen that cat. Hurriedly he had dropped his load and made for his hole. Alas the cat saw him and chased after him at a surprising speed for an animal with such a barrel shaped body.

Just inches from his hole, Magnus had been pounced upon by the cat. As it turned him towards it, he had got out its wand and was just about to cast a bat bogey hex on it when suddenly he was pulled off him by an invisible force into James Potter's arms. As that happened, the large, heavily pregnant form of Lily Potter had come towards Magnus, knelt down (with considerable difficulty given her very large tummy), and scooped him up gently in her hands. Just as gently, she had apologised to him for the behaviour of the cat.

Magnus had been astonished. It was the first time anyone had acknowledged him as a familiar and not just as some dumb black and white mouse. He had even felt confident enough after that to make a spoken acceptance of Lily's apology.

After that, Magnus and the Potters were very close. The Potters kept their cat under control from that day on, and Mangus would often come out of his hole in the evenings for a chat and a slice of cheese on a cracker. And when their son, Harry was born, Magnus would often entertain the child by creating little sparks with his wand (a trick that James would pick up on). The sound of Harry's happy laughter in response to this spectacle was so heart warming that it caused Magnus to turn a blind eye on those occasions when the baby would suck his tail or ears with his toothless gums. Around the Potters, Magnus had felt warm and happy.

But then, on that terrible Halloween night, it all came to an end. Magnus had been asleep in his hole when suddenly a great bang had caused him to wake with a start. As he rubbed his eyes, he heard James frantically talking to Lily.

"Lily, take Harry and go. It's him. Hurry, I'll hold him off."

Realising that something was wrong, Magnus had grabbed his wand and dashed out into the living room. Just as he exited his hole, he had heard someone say the words "Avada Kedavra" and was blinded by a flash of green coming from the hallway. When he finally regained his sight, he had run towards the source of the light and been greeted by a horrific sight: James Potter lying spread eagled on the hallway floor, dead!

Horror struck, Magnus averted his sight from his friend's corpse to see a hooded figure all clad in black ascending slowly up the stairs. His instinct to protect Lily took over and he followed the figure, who lead him to the nursery. The figure took out his wand and waved it casually at the door, causing it to be blasted off its hinges. He went inside and as he did so, Magnus heard Lily pleading desperately with him.

"No, please, not Harry."

"Step aside, silly girl!" came the voice of the figure, a snakelike hiss.

"Not Harry, please no. Please don't kill him, take me, kill me instead." The way she spoke made it clear to Magnus that she meant every word of what she said. He dashed into the nursery as the conversation continued.

"This is my last warning!"

"Not Harry. Please...have mercy...not Harry! Please, I'll do anything-

"Avada Kedavra" hissed the figure, tired of Lily's pleading. Magnus had entered the nursery just in time to see his other friend be killed by a jet of green light. As her murderer advanced purposefully towards Harry's cradle, Magnus prepared to cast a spell on him.

But he never got the chance, for at that moment, the Potters cat had knocked him aside as it ran to Harry's aid. Hissing and spitting, it had clawed furiously at the hem of the figure's cloak. But like James and Lily before it, it too met its death by the green spell. The figure had kicked its lifeless body right towards Magnus, he had been crushed beneath it. Even with his super-mouse strength, he still found it hard to shift the cat's rotund form off him. Meanwhile, the figure had pointed his wand at Harry and shouted those dreaded words for the fourth time that night.

"Avada Kedavra!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth then suddenly there was an almighty explosion. It had practially torn out Magnus' ear drums and the resulting shockwave was enough to cause him to pass out.

When he had come to he had been looking up at the full moon, and thought he could see the sillouette of a motorcycle flying across it. As he got up he saw that the whole house was in ruins. The dark figure who had killed Lily and James was gone, and so was Harry.

Magnus had been crushed, figuratively this time as the shockwave had blown the cat's body to goodness only knew where. This time the previous night, he had been sitting around in a cosy circle with the Potters by a roaring fireplace. And now James and Lily were dead, their house was destroyed and their son was gone, almost certainly dead like them.

And so he had left Godric's Hollow and lived here in the house he occupied now. It was barely less dilapidated than the Potters old one, but at least it didn't harbour the memories, now painful in the wake of James and Lily's deaths, that the other house did. And for years he had lived here, brooding over how he had failed his old friends.

But then, last Christmas Eve night, he had seen that against all the odds, one Potter had survived. Little Harry (although that was no longer an appropriate title given that he looked to be about seventeen now), had come back to Godric's Hollow. Magnus had recognised him not by the lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead, but by his eyes, green as Lily's had been. He had been under attack from a snake that put Magnus very much in mind of the figure that had tried to kill him. For the first time since that night, the instinct to protect the Potters had taken over and he had helped them get to safety.

Now he was wondering if he really had made it to safety. But before he could ponder on it anymore, he saw something light and silvery just outside his hole. He reached for his wand and stepped cautiously outside, where he was greeted by the sight of a silvery, ephemeral lion sitting on its haunches and staring at him. As they made eye contact, it opened its mouth and spoke with a voice that Magnus had heard before, also on that Christmas Eve.

"Hey Magnus, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm the mouse that was with Harry Potter that night you saved us from You Know Who's snake. Anyway, we were captured by the Malfoy family (I don't know if you've heard of them). The others escaped but not me, and I'm now sitting in a birdcage in a place called Malfoy Manor awaiting torture and execution by none other than You Know Who himself. I know we don't know each other that well, but if you care about my master as much as you made out to that night, can you please come rescue me? It's just that I was appointed by Dumbledore to be Harry's protector, and I really need to get outta here so I can do my job and help him stop You Know Who!"

And with that the lion patronus vanished. Magnus took out his wand. Under normal circumstances, he would have had a thousand questions boiling in his brain. Who was You Know Who? Who were the Malfoys? Why did that mouse think Magnus would even come to his aid anyway? But they were all superseded by one thought: If he could get that mouse out of there, then maybe he could help to protect Harry, and his debt to Lily and James would be repaid.

Magnus closed his eyes and apparated out of the room.

* * *

Jerry paced nervously up and down. It had been twenty minutes now since he had sent his patronus off and he had had no response from Magnus. He was getting more and more worried, sweat poured down his forehead in torrents as the thought of the door opening and Voldemort coming into the room preyed on his mind.

Suddenly he heard raised voices coming from downstairs. He swallowed nervously, he was sure that those voices were not due to his paranoia.

"My lord" came the subservient voice of Lucius Malfoy.

"I have no time for pleasant greetings, Lucius." came a strangled, hissing voice and Jerry's blood froze. It was the same voice he had heard that night over Little Whinging, it was the voice of Voldemort. He was here!

"I trust you have the boy in your dungeon, else you would not have summoned me?"

"Well, not exactly but we do-

"Crucio!" bellowed Voldemort, and the sound of Lucius Malfoy's agonised screams resonated up through the floorboards. Jerry's fear increased ten fold, he knew without a doubt that that was the spell Voldemort would use if and when he interrogated him about Harry's whereabouts.

At last the screaming stopped and was replaced by Voldemort's voice.

"I grow tired of your incompetence, Lucius. First you fail to retrieve the prophecy, and now you summon me here for nothing. Did I not tell _all_ of my Death Eaters to summon me only for Harry Potter? Shall I put you out of the misery of your own stupidity, Lucius? At least dead, you would be of use to Nagini here."

'Shoot, he brought her with him!' thought Jerry, panic threatening to overwhelm him.

"My lord, if I could only explain" said Lucius Malfoy weakly. "We had Harry Potter here in our very own dungeon as you presumed."

"And I suppose he escaped" said Voldemort. "I cannot say I'm too surprised, Lucius. I've come to expect no less of you and your family these past few months."

"My lord, if I may" interjected Bellatrix. "It's true that Harry Potter did escape. But we have a prisoner upstairs who should be able to tell us of his whereabouts. His mouse."

"Not that again!" hissed Voldemort. "I thought you had done away with those make believe stories long ago, Bellatrix!"

Then there came the hissing of a snake, followed by the strangled sound of parseltongue. Jerry knew that Nagini and Voldemort were conversing.

"It seems, Bellatrix, that you shall have a chance to prove to me that this mouse exists. Nagini has insisted I check." He sounded like a irritating child had pestered him into doing it, rather than his beloved pet.

"Show me upstairs" continued Voldemort.

"With pleasure, my lord" said Bellatrix.

As the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs sounded, Jerry looked desperately to the window that his patronus had flown out of.

"Come on, Magnus. Where are you?"

"Here" came an aged sounding voice. Jerry looked behind him to see the old black and white mouse standing on the floor. He pointed his wand at the birdcage.

"Brace yourself" he warned. Jerry clutched the bars tightly and closed his eyes.

"Confringo" said Magnus. The birdcage was blasted four feet in the air before it came crashing down on to the floor. In that moment, Jerry felt as if he were in a barrel going over Victoria Falls. When he next opened his eyes though, a small gap had been formed between the bars of the cage by the sheer force of the blast. Jerry wasted no time in clambering through it to freedom. He hurried over to Magnus.

"Now what?" Magnus took his hand and raised his wand above his head.

"Now we get out of here."

And they apparated out of Malfoy Manor just as Voldemort's spider-like hand clutched the doorknob. By the time he entered the room, both mice were gone.

* * *

When Jerry next opened his eyes, he found himself standing on a riverbank by a field of tall, swaying grass.

"Where are we?" he asked, slightly disoriented after apparating.

"Don't know, don't really care right now" said Magnus, letting go of his hand. "All that matters right now is that we get the hell out of here before we're discovered."

And with that he began to make for the edge of the grass. Just before he disappeared into it, he turned back to Jerry.

"Come if you're coming, Harry Potter's Protector." Jerry did as he was told and followed a mouse he barely knew into the grass of an unknown place, miles away from his friends.


	30. Seperate Activities

For some time, Jerry found himself pushing his way through the grass whilst trying not to lose sight of Magnus' black and white fur. But finally they came to a clearing where all of a sudden, Magnus stopped dead in his tracks. Jerry stopped too. The older mouse turned and pointed his wand at him.

"Alright, I've helped you escape, now you need to do something for me."

"What?" said Jerry. He couldn't possibly think of anything that Magnus might want from him.

"I need some answers before I help you any further" Magnus went on. "Who are you? Where is Harry Potter? What's going on? Why did you even need me to rescue you in the first place?"

For a moment, Jerry was silent. But then he spoke.

"Why don't you answer me a question first? How do you know my master?"

"Why do you need to know that?"

"Because if I don't, then answering your questions may be a whole lot more difficult than it needs to be."

Magnus sighed and looked down at the ground, then back up at Jerry.

"It was years ago, before Harry Potter was even born..."he began. And from there on, Magnus told of the time he had spent with the Potters, before and after Harry's birth. He told of how they had first met, how happy he had been with them, and of the horror of that fateful night when they had all been killed by the mysterious cloaked figure.

"And so I lived in that house where you first saw me for all of those years, and then Harry came back at Christmas, and then not an hour ago, you sent that patronus to me" said Magnus, concluding his story.

"Yeah well, a lot's happened since that night" said Jerry. "First of all, Harry went to live with his mean muggle relatives for eleven years, and that was practially a living hell for him. But he's been much happier since then, attending Hogwarts for the past six years."

"Hogwarts? He went to Hogwarts?"

"Yes"

"Oh wonderful" said Magnus. "I'd always wondered if he'd have gone there if he was still alive. And now I know that he did."

"Yeah anyways, Dumbledore appointed me and that cat you saw me with to be his protectors."

"Against who?"

"Against that mysterious figure you saw that night, and all of his dark witch and wizard friends" said Jerry. He picked up a twig and pointed it at the ground. "I'll write out his name for you but promise you won't say it out loud. The name's tabooed and anyone who says it out loud has a whole load of dark wizards come down on them like a ton of bricks."

"I promise" said Magnus.

Jerry stuck the twig into the soil and within a few minutes, traced Voldemort's name in it.

"So that's his name is it?" said Magnus.

"Yep" said Jerry. "And there's more." He went on to explain to Magnus about the prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort, about the horcruxes, and about Harry's mission to find and destroy every last one.

"And so that's why I ended up in that cage" said Jerry. "Because me and the others were on the hunt for horcruxes."

"Right, well so far you've answered all of my questions except one" said Magnus. "Where is Harry Potter?"

"Last I heard, a place called Shell Cottage. I think it's in Wales."

"You think it's in Wales?" said Magnus. "You mean you don't actually know?"

"Well, I haven't exactly had time to ask anyone for a forwarding address lately, have I?" said Jerry defensively. "And while we're on the subject, you said you don't know where we are right now."

"Actually I do, I just said I didn't because I didn't feel it was a good time to elaborate on anything. This is the field I was born in. We're in Scotland right now!"

Jerry resisted the urge to moan with exasperation. He knew it wasn't Magnus' fault that he'd ended up miles away from Shell Cottage, but all the same it was very inconvenient to be stranded so far away from his friends.

"Anyway" Magnus continued, "we can always just apparate to this Shell Cottage." He raised his wand.

"No!" cried Jerry, grabbing hold of Magnus' wand arm. "We can't apparate. I know we did it just then to escape from Malfoy Manor, but we can't use it again from now on!"

"Why ever not?"

"It's another one of those things that's been tabooed lately" Jerry explained. "Frankly it's a wonder we haven't had a whole bunch of His friends coming after us."

"Oi, Yaxley!" shouted a distant voice. "You found anything yet?"

"Not yet...oh wait hang on...there's some tiny footprints here."

"Tiny footprints? I thought we were looking for someone who'd apparated."

"Yeah, but surely you've heard those rumours that have been going around, that Harry Potter's got a magical mouse that walks on two legs and uses a wand."

"Yes, but I didn't think they could possibly be real. Could they?"

"Only one way to find out. Let's follow them!" said Yaxley. There came the sound of grass being parted.

"Speak of the devil. Run!" cried Jerry. He grabbed Magnus' hand and the two mice ran as fast as they could through the grass away from danger.

* * *

For Tom, the last few days had been a real blur.

There had once been a time when he would have given anything to be free of Jerry. But since being appointed as Harry's protectors all those years ago, the two had done virtually everything together and Tom had not been able to think of being without the mouse.

And yet, now he was in just that situation.

Shortly after Dobby had died, Bill and Fleur had come running down the beach and half dragged them all to Shell Cottage. Once there they had been greeted by a seedy looking goblin who went by the name of Griphook. Apparently he had turned up some weeks ago on Bill and Fleur's doorstep half dead (having narrowly escaped being killed by Death Eaters), and they had been nursing him back to health since then. However, with his misanthropy, ill temper and generally bad manners, he had quickly overstayed his welcome and when he was not in earshot, Fleur made no secret of the fact that she couldn't wait to be rid of him.

Luckily for her, it soon transpired that Harry and the others needed Griphook in order to break into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts, in which they believed to be one of Voldemort's horcruxes: the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. In exchange for his services however, they would have to give him the sword of Gryffindor.

Most of this however, had barely been acknowledged by Tom. His mind had been focused elsewhere, on Jerry. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Jerry's face. When he tried to go to sleep at night he heard the last words he had said to him.

"I'll see you soon, little buddy."

That was what he had said, and at the time he had thought that it would be true. He had thought that Dobby would go back for Jerry and bring him here to Shell Cottage, he thought that the two of them would be able to carry on helping and protecting Harry as they had always done. And now thanks to cruel fate and that wicked murderess, Bellatrix, Voldemort was probably mercilessly torturing Jerry for information, if he hadn't already killed him that is. There were times when Tom would give anything to be able to apparate back to Malfoy Manor and find his friend, but he knew he couldn't. One, he had the promise he made to Dumbledore to protect Harry to honour. Two, nowadays it was impossible to apparate anywhere without having a whole load of Death Eaters snapping at your heels.

And so for the past few days, Tom had sat around the cottage, gazing out of the windows at the sea. Sometimes he would go up the sand dunes to visit Dobby's grave, where he would sit cross-legged staring at the headstone in silence, tears trickling slowly down his face. Duchess saw all of this and sometimes accompanied Tom on his visits in the hope that she would be able to think of something to say that might cheer him up. But she could think of nothing. For despite all the pains she had experienced whilst living with Umbridge, she had never before lost someone who was very important to her in the way that Tom had lost Jerry. Also, she had not known Jerry for as long as Tom had, and so despite her best efforts, she could not completely feel the pain Tom felt at having the bond between the two of them being broken.

Now however, everyone was standing on the sand dunes overlooking Shell Cottage. A plan had been worked out. Together they would travel to Gringotts, Hermione and Ron disguised as Bellatrix Lestrange and an anonymous Death Eater, respectively, and Harry, Tom, Duchess and Griphook hiding under the invisibility cloak. Then with the goblin's help, they would try and infiltrate the Lestrange vault and retrieve the cup, after which Harry would give Gryffindor's sword to Griphook.

As Tom looked down towards the cottage, he could see Hermione and Ron walking up the dunes towards them, perfectly disguised thanks to polyjuice potion.

"That was disgusting" gasped Hermione. "She tasted foul."

"Oh stop your whining, human girl!" snapped Griphook. "We all have to suffer some time in our lives so just shut up and get on with it."

"Watch it, you" growled Ron, fingering his wand.

"Alright now, let's not fight" said Harry. "If this is going to work we need to be able to work together. So let's try and put our differences aside until we've been in and out of Gringotts. Alright?"

Everyone nodded. Then they all grasped each other's hands and with the exception of Griphook and Duchess, took out their wands. Then the next minute, they were gone.

* * *

Presently, the band found themselves walking down the hallway at Gringotts, having recently apparated into Diagon Alley. On either side of them were rows of goblins sitting at their own individual desks and scrutinising Hermione and Ron (or rather, Bellatrix Lestrange and Dragomir Despard). Soon they arrived at a desk at the end of the hall, at which sat the Death Eater known as Travers.

"Madam Lestrange" he said to Hermione as she approached him. "What a pleasant surprise. I had heard that all the Malfoy family were being confined to their manor for their recent failure."

"Well, it's just as well I'm a Lestrange, isn't it?" sneered Hermione using Bellatrix's arrogant tone. "My friend and I need to visit my vault."

"I see, and who is your friend?" inquired Travers.

"This is Dragomir Despard. He is from Transylvania. Unfortunately,he doesn't speak a lot of English, but he supports our cause."

"I see" said Travers again. "Well, a visit to your vault can certainly be arranged, but I'm afraid that in todays climes, I shall have to ask you for identification."

Tom's blood ran cold. Identification? They must have been informed that an intruder was trying to break into Gringotts. Did that mean that Voldemort knew they were hunting horcruxes?

"Identification? I have never been asked for identification before?"

"Your wand will do" said Travers, extending his hand. Reluctantly Hermione, reached for her wand.

Before she could give it to Travers however, Tom heard Harry cast a spell.

"Imperio" he whispered. Under normal circumstances, Tom would have questioned Harry's use of an illegal spell, but recently he had come to accept that all was fair in the fight against Voldemort. He just hoped that the spell would work, seeing as it was the first time Harry had cast it.

For several moments, Travers did nothing that Tom wouldn't have expected him to do. But then he spoke.

"Actually, I think given your closeness to the Dark Lord, you can probably be trusted with your own vault. You can put your wand away."

"Thank you" said Hermione snootily as she and Ron brushed past Travers. Harry, Tom, Griphook and Duchess followed close behind.

Passing through the doors behind Travers' desk, they came to a room that put Tom in mind of a roller coaster loading area, with its oval shaped carts on tracks suspended off the ground, which lead into a dark cave. A goblin stood by them.

"Right this way" he said, gestuing towards one of the carts. After getting in, there was a hiss and a jolt as it started on its way. Under the invisibility cloak, Griphook looked down at Tom and Duchess.

"Be prepared, it's going to be a bumpy ride" he said ominously. Trying his best not to stick his paw out from under the cloak, Tom gripped the side of the cart with white knuckled ferocity.

As the cart entered into the darkness of the cave, the air immediately turned smoky and sulphurous in smell, and it was also very hot. Tom began to pant and sweat and for the first time in his life he wished he was one of those hairless cats, so uncomfortable the high temperature made him. As if all of this wasn't enough, the bumpy ride Griphook had promised came very quickly. Suddenly and without warning the cart dropped and went speeding down the vertical tracks faster than any roller coaster before abruptly levelling off. It then zipped along the tracks faster than a speeding car before travelling vertically upwards.

Several times this pattern was repeated, along with several zig-zagging movements. Both Tom and Harry grabbed the folds of the invisibility cloak out of fear that it would be blown off them. As for Tom's grip on the edge of the cart, that tightened even more. As an added measure, both he and Duchess sank their claws into the floor as a way to anchor themselves should things get seriously bumpy.

Finally though, when it was on a horizontal bit of track, the cart slowed down and Tom allowed himself a huge sigh of relief. That had easily been the most horrible ride of his life, he was surprised he hadn't been violently sick as a result of it. He looked at Duchess.

"Are you guys ok?" Duchess looked at him and shook her head, she looked quite green. Harry meanwhile spoke up.

"It's changed at bit since I was here with Hagrid" he said, sounding quite dazed. "I wonder if there are still dragons guarding this place" he wondered out loud. Tom's blood ran cold.

"D-dragons?" he stammered.

"Yes, they are still here" said Griphook. "In fact if you look down you'll see one straight below us."

As if to prove the point, there came a low growl from below. Tom peeked over the edge of the cart to see a gigantic black dragon chained to the stone floor. With its baleful yellow eyes, huge wings and spiky tail, he recognised it immediately as a Hungarian Horntail.

The sight of the dragon sent not only a shiver down Tom's spine, but a much stronger, all too familiar pang of anguish. The last time he had seen a Horntail was at the Triwizard Tournament. He remembered how Jerry had gone down into the dragon pit and taken it head on to distract it from attacking Harry. The bravery of that little mouse was one of the many things Tom missed about him and it killed inside him to think that he may never ever see him again.

Eventually, the cart came to a slow, grinding halt. Looking around, Tom immediately became suspicious.

"It doesn't look like we've arrived to me" he said. "We've just stopped in the middle of a track."

"Oh trust me, we've arrived" said Griphook. Cautiously, Tom and Duchess withdrew their claws from the cart floor. About a second later the cart tipped upside down and sent its occupants tumbling out towards the stone floor. Tom's first instinct was to cover his eyes and wait for death, but he supressed it and looked around for Duchess instead. There she was, her eyes closed already and with a surprisingly calm look on her face. Clearly she did not fear death, but that didn't mean she had to face it alone. Tom reached out and took her paw in his own. Duchess' eyes snapped open and she turned to face him.

"I guess this is it!" said Tom, shouting to make himself heard over the air rushing past their ears. "Duchess I just want to tell you again, although our time together hasn't been that long, I love you!"

"Tom, you really don't need to say all this" said Duchess calmly.

"Yes I do, I'll never get the chance again. I'll see you on the other side!"

And with that, Tom closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable splat.

"No, Tom. You really don't have to say all that stuff because-

Suddenly, Tom felt stone beneath his feet. He opened his eyes, then rubbed them, sure that he was dreaming. But he wasn't, he was standing upright in one piece on the floor. He turned to Duchess, she too was perfectly fine and standing on all fours.

"As I was trying to say to you, you don't have to say all that stuff because we always land on our feet" she said.

"Oh right, sorry I forgot" said Tom, feeling slightly embarrassed. He looked up and gasped. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Griphook were still falling towards them.

"We might land on our feet, but they won't!" cried Tom. Quickly he dashed out of the way, pulled out his wand and pointed it at his friends.

"Levioso!" he cried. Just as they were an inch from the floor, the three humans and the goblin hung still in mid-air. Harry, who had closed his eyes, opened them and after realising what had happened, turned to Tom.

"Thanks, Tom"

"Just doing my duty as your protector" said Tom as he cast the counter-spell. The levitating humanoids landed with a soft, harmless thump.

"Right" said Griphook after everyone had picked themselves up and dusted themselves off. "This way to the Lestrange vault."

With the company following close behind, he headed off down a wide passageway which lead to an oak door, by which stood a single goblin.

"Madame Lestrange and her friend wish to see her vault" said Griphook. The goblin eyed Ron and Hermione suspiciously before retrieving a series of metal objects bound together with rope from his pocket.

"Right this way" he wheezed nasally. Standing on tiptoe, he opened the door. As it swung open, there came the sound of growling not dissimilar to that of the Horntail earlier, smoke wafted out into the passageway and the fur on Tom's back stood up on end. As he and the others stepped through the smoky clouds, a faint glow flickered in and out of existence from time to time. And when Tom saw the long, tooth filled snout poking through the haze, his worst fears were realised.

A huge dragon stood next to the large door that Tom assumed lead to the vault, tethered to the floor by a long, thick chain. It's skin was pale and chalky from being underground for so long and its wide eyes were bloodshot, probably from straining them in order to catch what little light it could down here. Serrated, knife-like teeth protruded from its top jaw and were occasionally licked by a scarlet tongue.

"A Ukranian Ironbelly" gasped Ron. At the sound of his voice, the dragon turned and saw the intruders. It stood up on its hind legs and raised the bat-like wings that served as forelimbs menacingly. It opened its mouth and roared, fire boiled in the back of its throat.

Before the dragon could attack however, the goblin that was leading them into the vault raised his instrument and rattled it. Instantly, the dragon closed its mouth, dropped back down on all fours and lowered its head submissively before shrinking away to a corner opposite to the vault.

"They're trained not to attack at the sound of the Clankers" the goblin explained. Cautiously, all present crept past the dragon, Tom never taking his eyes off it. He was very frightened, he had seen first-hand what an angry or worse, hungry, dragon could do. He still remembered the brutality with which the Horntail at the Triwizard Tournament had devoured her handler. He had no doubts that a Ukranian Ironbelly could do just as much damage.

Finally though, they arrived at the door. The goblin reached for the handle, turning and addressing Hermione as he did so.

"Your vault, Madam Lestrange"

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**Author's note:**

**Dear _delinquency_,**

**If you're seeing this, you should know that I have seen your request for a Tom and Jerry/ Rescuers Down Under crossover and am currently considering it. I'm still not sure though if I'll be able to come up with a story just yet. I'll leave an author's note at the end of the next chapter to let you know my decision.**


	31. Gringotts

**Hello fans. I am so sorry it has taken so long to get this chapter finished (ten months, that's long even for me). But I've been very busy on my gap year and it's only recently that I've felt inspired enough to write more of this fic. Anyway, it's here now. So enjoy.**

* * *

As Tom, Duchess, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Griphook and the other goblin entered the vault, they found themselves in a room filled with enormous piles of gold coins, gold goblets, silver armoured breastplates and winged helmets, the skins of dragons and other creatures besides, jewelled flasks filled with colourful potions and many other treasures besides.

"Wow, this a real Aladdin's cave, isn't it?" said Tom, reaching out to touch a golden plate. As soon as he did so, he yelped and pulled his paw back. The plate had burned him.

"Careful" said their goblin guide. "The new security measures mean that everything you touch will burn you and multiply into a series of worthless copies."

As he spoke that, the plate exploded into ten identical copies with a loud pop. Tom backed away from them quickly before any of them could make contact with his skin again. Then he quickly looked to his burnt paw. Fortunately, his fur had protected his flesh from the worst of the burning, but he now had a small patch of bare skin on that paw. The acrid smell of burning hair assailed his nostrils.

"I'll just be outside if you need me" said the goblin as he headed for the door. "Remember, don't touch anything!" he added as the door closed behind him.

"Yeah, he could have told us that before I touched the plate" said Tom sarcastically.

"Ok, now remember" said Harry. "We're looking for a goblet with the Hufflepuff badger on it."

"How do you know that?" said Tom. Harry turned and gave him a _'do-I-seriously-have-to-explain-it-again?' _look.

"Oh right, the telepathic link to You-Know-Who" said Tom. "Sorry, I forgot."

For a while, Harry, Ron and Hermione scoured the vault, the 'lumos' light from the ends of their wands casting light into the darker corners., Then suddenly, Harry pointed his wand to the top of an enormous pile of treasure.

"There it is" he said. All present looked at him and then at the beam of light cast from his wand. It settled like a spotlight on a golden goblet perched on the top of the pile, endorned with jewels surrounding the badger that was the symbol of Hufflepuff house.

"Right, so now we know where the cup is in all this mess" said Tom, "but how do we get it without being barbequed?"

"I'll sort that out" said Hermione, reaching for her wand. While she did that, Harry reached for the Sword of Gryffindor, giving Hermione an understanding nod. She nodded back and pointed her wand at him.

"Levicorpus" she said. Instantly, Harry was lifted off the floor as if by an invisible hand. Slowly he rose up above the pile of treasure towards the cup. Tom took out his own wand and kept it trained on his owner, just in case Hermione's spell should fail inexplicably. Gingerly, Harry reached forward with his sword holding hand, neatly slipping the blade through one of the cup's handles. As he lifted it up, he tilted the sword backwards so that the cup didn't slip right back off. With an audible sigh of relief, Hermione moved her wand in the direction of the floor. As Harry neared it he took out his own wand and pointed it at himself.

"Liberacorpus" he said, and dropped like a stringless puppet. As he hit the floor, he let go of the sword, sending both it and the cup skidding across the room. Both came to a halt right by Griphook's foot. Quickly he bent down and picked up the sword by its handle, before gently slipping the cup off its blade with his free hand.

"Thanks, Griphook" said Harry as he picked himself. Griphook's response was a wicked looking smile.

"Don't thank me, Harry Potter" he sneered. "For this is where I leave, and you and your friends die. Or at least, sit through a spell in Azkaban."

"What? What do you mean? We had a deal!" cried Harry.

"Ah yes, Mr. Potter. But you see for a deal to be made, there has to be at least some element of trust on both sides. And unfortunately for you, I didn't trust you to relinquish the sword to me after you had used it to destroy the horcrux. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let three wizard thieves make off with an artefact that rightly belongs to us goblins."

Harry made for Griphook but the goblin turned and pointed the sword at him.

"Look out, Harry. He's got a piece!" screamed Tom.

Griphook held the cup above his head.

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked him.

"Well first, I'm going to give you back this cup" said Griphook. "After all, what use does a goblin have for a worthless, wizard trinket?"

He tossed the cup at Harry, who raised his arm like the quidditch seeker he was.

"Harry, no!" cried Tom. "If you touch that thing it'll-

But it was too late. Harry caught the cup and screamed as it burned him and burst into ten copies. Tom leapt out of the way of these copies and then turned and glared at Griphook.

"Now what are you going to do?"

"Now, Mr. Cat, I'm going to do this" said Griphook. And he turned and ran.

"Thieves, thieves!" he shouted at the top of his voice. "Thieves in the Lestrange's vault. Kill them! Kill them!"

"You double crossing little creep!" shouted Tom. "Stupefy"

Unfortunately his spell missed Griphook and instead hit a pile of treasure. A spray of gold coins was sent flying in their direction. Tom pulled Duchess to him and covered her with his body, flinching as the coins hit him and burned his fur. After what seemed like ages, he felt someone grab him by the scruff of the neck. It was Ron.

"Come on, Tom. We have to get out of here" he cried.

As they turned a corner out of the vault, they found themselves back in the room with the Ukranian Ironbelly. It turned and saw them. Snarling, it opened its mouth and prepared to incinerate them. However, it was soon distracted by the sound of raised voices coming from the other end. It turned just in time to see a group of wizards and goblins enter the room, wands and other weapons at the ready.

"There they are. Those must be the thieves!" said one wizard, pointing at Harry, Ron, Hermione (now no longer looking like Bellatrix), Tom and Duchess. He made towards them but the dragon roared at him and he backed away. A goblin at the front of the crowd raised his clankers and rattled them. Once again the dragon cowered and backed away at the sound. Meanwhile the security force made for Harry and friends.

"Oh no you don't" said Tom, taking out his wand. "Accio clankers" The clankers shot out of the goblin's hand and right into Tom's. Noticing what happened, the dragon turned in Tom's direction. It opened its mouth, and Tom rattled the clankers. The dragon roared in anguish and confusion and turned around again, sqaushing a goblin beneath its foot and bowling over a whole row of goblins and wizards with its tail. At the sound of their cries, it turned on the rest of the security force, unleashing a massive jet of fire and roasting them in minutes.

"Well that's one problem down" said Ron. "But how are we going to get out of here?"

"Well" said Hermione. "There is a dragon here, a dragon that can fly. I'd say that might be a good mode of transport."

"Hermione, are you mad?" cried Ron.

Hermione did not answer but instead leapt on to the dragon's back.

"Quickly, get on" she yelled.

"Looks like we don't have much choice" said Tom, although he said that with a great deal of reluctance. He had not envied Jerry when he had gone up against the Hungarian Horntail three years ago, and he certainly wasn't best pleased by the prospect of climbing on to the back of a Urkranian Ironbelly either. But as he himself had said, they didn't have much choice. More security would undoubtedly be arriving soon and if anything could get past them, it was a dragon.

As Duchess and Tom clambered on after Harry and Ron, Hermione pointed her wand at the chain that bound the dragon.

"Relashio". There was a great crack and the chain broke just as the Ironbelly lunged for a goblin who just a moment ago would have been out of reach. As it sank its teeth into him, it raised its head and looked behind it. For a moment it did nothing but munch on the goblin and stare at the broken remains of its chain dangling from the wall. But then it looked forward again and swallowed the goblin, before throwing up its wings and launching itself into the air.

Having heard many warnings about not looking down when at a great height, Tom instead looked up. And as he did so, he noticed that the dragon was flying up towards a great octagon of glass, through which a dim light was shining. He closed his eyes and buried his face in the dragon's skin so as not to be blinded when the inevitable crash came. Soon the deafening sound of smashing glass rang out around him, followed almost immediately afterwards by the sound of screaming. Opening his eyes, he saw that they had just erupted out into the main atrium of Gringotts, amidst hundred of bank workers and customers. These were now all crying out in fright and pushing and shoving to reach the doors.

The Ironbelly however was unconcerned by all of this. Even though a few spells were hurled at it, it's thick hide protected it from harm and it continued its climbing flight. As it neared the roof, it releashed another jet of flame and within seconds it had burned its way through. As they cleared the hole, Tom felt the cool wind ruffle at his fur, a welcome relief from the hot, sticky atmosphere underground, and it also helped to soothe the burns he had sustained, if only a little.

Finally though, the Ironbelly stopped climbing and levelled its body out horizontally. When he next felt brave enough, Tom opened his eyes and looked down. Instantly, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened at what he saw. It was London, from a bird's eye view. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, a city he had previously only ever seen as a place of high rises and insanely busy traffic now looked like a simple blueprint, made up of clusters of buildings interspersed with wide areas of green parkland. Around and about his field of vision was the ocassional cloud, reminding him of just how high up he was.

Taking his eyes off the far-away ground, Tom caught sight of the cup poking out of Harry's trouser pocket and smiled. They had gone through hell to get it, but at last they had another horcrux in their possession.

Now, with the sword gone, it was just a question of how to destroy it?

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**Dear Dequincy,**

**I am sorry to inform you that I have decided not to write a Tom and Jerry/Rescuers Down Under cross over. First of all, I don't have enough time or ideas to write such a fic, and secondly, I'd rather not write a story where Tom and Jerry essentially do the same thing that they did in Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz (promise the protagonist's guardian/parent to look after them), but instead write an original idea.**

**I hope you understand my reasons for not writing such a fic and I'm sorry to disappoint. I wish you all the best.**

**MrandMrsTemple.**


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